19 January 2006
In Hear that hissing sound?, the opinion is expressed that the air is slowly leaking from the global housing bubble and that even if property prices have a soft landing, in some countries it is so overvalued that prices could stagnate for up to a decade. Looking at the graph, one sees that South African property has enjoyed a truly remarkable return between 1997 and 2005.
The Economist's house price indices
| % change on a year earlier |
|
Q3 2005* |
Q3 2004 |
1997-2005 |
| South Africa |
15.8 |
34.5 |
271 |
| New Zealand |
14.5 |
16.4 |
79 |
| Denmark |
14.3 |
9.7 |
73 |
| France |
14.2 |
15.5 |
100 |
| Hong Kong |
14.1 |
31.2 |
-43 |
| Spain |
13.4 |
16.8 |
150 |
| United States |
12.0 |
13.0 |
85 |
| Sweden |
9.5 |
9.8 |
98 |
| Belgium |
9.4 |
10.9 |
62 |
| Italy |
7.3 |
9.7 |
81 |
| Ireland |
7.2 |
11.5 |
208 |
China |
6.6 |
9.9 |
na |
Netherlands |
5.6 |
2.9 |
85 |
Canada |
4.4 |
6.9 |
50 |
Singapore |
3.3 |
nil |
na |
Britain |
2.4 |
19.3 |
166 |
Switzerland |
1.3 |
2.2 |
13 |
Australia |
1.0 |
8.2 |
112 |
Germany |
na |
-1.3 |
nil |
Japan |
-4.7 |
-6.0 |
-30 |
| *Or latest | |
|---|
Source: The Economist
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