When it comes to skyrocketing home prices, forget about the Bay Area or the Pacific Northwest. Instead, the world leader in home price growth is a nation that is better known to Americans for its political tumult than its residential luxuries.
According to new data released by the London-based real estate brokerage Knight Frank, Turkey holds the distinction of having the greatest year-over-year home price increases, with a nearly 14 percent spike between the second quarter of 2015 and the second quarter of this year. However, the Turkish residential market has seen its price growth slipping—it was previously rising at a 19 percent pace.
In terms of steady home price growth, Knight Frank has crowned a Down Under nation as the top location for more expensive homeownership.
“If we consider real price growth, where inflation is stripped out, New Zealand finds itself in first place with 11 percent annual growth whilst Turkey—with inflation in excess of seven percent—is pushed down into 13th position,” observed Kate Everett-Allen, head of international residential research at Knight Frank.
In its unadjusted house price list, however, New Zealand comes behind Turkey in second, with Canada trailing in third with a 10 percent year-over-year home price increase. Other nations in this top 10 ranking are Chile (9.4 percent), Sweden (8.9 percent), Malta (8.8 percent), Austria (8.1 percent), Iceland (8.1 percent), Mexico (8.0 percent) and Germany (7.9 percent). In comparison, the U.S. ranks 25th at 5.1 percent, just behind the U.K. at 5.1 percent and further behind significantly smaller nations including Israel (7.8 percent), Ireland (6.6 percent) and Luxembourg (6.3 percent). But Everett-Allen predicted the possibility of dramatic near-future changes in the British and American markets.
“The outcome of the U.S. presidential election and the negotiations following the U.K.’s Brexit decision will ultimately determine the confidence of owner-occupiers and the flow of investor capital across a large part of the world in the short to medium term,” she said.
