Australia has moved into the Top 5 countries for house price growth for the first time in six years with almost 20 per cent annual growth for the year to September.
The Knight Frank Global House Price Index for the September quarter showed Australia in fifth place with 18.9 per cent year-on-year growth, which is up from 16.4 per cent in the June quarter.
At the end of June Australia was in seventh place on the index, which tracks mainstream house prices across 56 countries and territories.
Topping the list was, once again, Turkey, which has recorded a 35.5 per cent jump in house prices year-on-year.
Knight Frank Australia Head of Residential, Shayne Harris said the last time Australia was in the Top 5 on the index was at the end of 2015, just before tightened lending restrictions came in.
“The impact that the pandemic has had on our house prices is clear, with Knight Frank data showing that our average price growth from 2015 to 2020 was 4.4 per cent, which rose to average growth of 9.8 per cent since the start of the pandemic,” he said.
“As at Q3 2021, the Australian mainstream market has had eight quarters of uninterrupted positive annual growth, and the market continues to heat up as much desirable stock is in short supply and interest rates remain at historic lows.”
Mr Harris tipped Australia’s house price growth to slow down in 2022 by as much as 10 per cent as affordability continued to be a concern.
“As we move into 2022, we expect Australians to be influenced by further restrictions on lending, an increase in house listings and different considerations about how they deploy their capital as international travel resumes and some elements of pre-Covid life return,” he said.
Globally house prices have continued to rise with 96 per cent of the markets recorded in the index experiencing positive annual price growth.
The value of an average home increased by 9.4 per cent in the 12 months to the September quarter, up marginally from 9.2 per cent in the previous quarter.
Almost half (46 per cent) of the housing markets recorded achieved annual price growth of more than 10 per cent.
Coming in at second place on the index for the September quarter was South Korea, which recorded 26.4 per cent growth in house prices year-on-year.
New Zealand came in third with 21.9 per cent house price growth, dropping one place on the index from the June quarter when it recorded 25.9 per cent growth.
Seventeen other countries and territories saw their annual price growth moderate between June and September, including the US and the UK.
The UK fell from 12th position, with 13.2 per cent growth, in the June quarter to 21st position with 11.8 per cent growth on the index.
Meanwhile, the US fell to sixth on the index.
Sweden came in fourth (20.3 per cent), Jersey was seventh (18.4 per cent), the Netherlands was eighth (18.4 per cent) Slovakia was ninth (also with 18.4 per cent growth) and Canada (17.3 per cent) rounded out the Top 10.
