Property markets around the world are showing "signs of tentative recovery" according to the latest Global House Price Index from estate agents Knight Frank. The report, considered one of the most comprehensive and reliable sources on residential property prices, found that in the second quarter of 2009, almost half the 32 countries surveyed experienced a price increase.
Liam Bailey, Knight Frank's head of residential research, said: "It now appears that house prices are starting to stabilise across the world. The latest results from our Global House Price Index show values increased in almost half of the locations reporting price changes for the second quarter of the year. Significantly, quarterly price falls accelerated in only 22 per cent of the locations and did not exceed 10 per cent in any country. This compares with double-digit falls in a number of locations during the first quarter."
The top performers in the survey were Israel, where prices are up 12.5 per cent over the last 12 months, and Switzerland, which has seen a 6.1 per cent rise over the same period. In the three months to June, the field was led by Norway, up 5.3 per cent, followed by Australia, up 4.2 per cent.
But for some countries the picture is still pretty bleak. In Dubai, prices fell by 7.5 per cent during the second quarter, contributing to a decline of 47 per cent over the 12 month period, which means anyone who bought near the top of the market has seen the value of their investment slashed in half.
And Bulgaria is another big faller: down 9.7 per cent over three months, and 21.9 per cent over 12 months. A number of other countries which have seen their property markets go into meltdown, such as the three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, did not report figures.
Bailey said the market is still "fragile and patchy", adding: '"Further falls are always a possibility while credit flows remain constrained and the global economy struggles to recover from recession, but it does appear that the worst is behind us."
Alexander Garrett is a freelance property writer who contributes regularly to The Observer and British Airways' Business Life.