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.
| % 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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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