Is there no end to the bad news? Ireland’s house prices have fallen by 8.1 per cent in the year to June placing it as low as 38 out of 43 countries in the Knight Frank Global House Price Index.
It could be worse. Spare a thought for Latvia where house prices continue to plummet, with values now 24.1 per cent below the same time last year, the steepest drop in the index.
Denmark appears to be suffering most of all the western European economies, with annual price falls amounting to 9.6 per cent. The Danish market peaked in Q3 2006 and, says Knight Frank, the slowdown hit Denmark before anywhere else.
Plummeting values have been put down to a slowing economy and increasing problems with interest rates and mortgage finance – a crisis highlighted by the rescue of Roskilde Bank earlier this year in the wake of £1bn of losses from bad debt, concentrated in the housing sector.
Two-thirds of Danish banks are on a “watch list” composed by the Danish Financial Oversight Institute. Gulp!
It seems the bad news is not being shared by all. For the fourth consecutive quarter Bulgaria tops the index, with growth of 32.2 per cent over the year. Foreign direct investment, a growing manufacturing base, combined with its appeal as a holiday home location have made Bulgaria the best performing location, according to researchers in Knight Frank.
Slovakia, Russia, the Czech Republic and Hong Kong all also recorded strong annual growth of over 25 per cent. Overall, global house price inflation was 4.8 per cent during Q2 2008, down from 6.1 per cent in Q1.
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