PHOTO: In Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, the average price of a home was up 30.1% year over year in the first quarter. KISHAN MODI
Although 43 cities registered double-digit growth in the first quarter, “it’s not global boom,” according to Knight Frank
Average home prices in a basket of major cities around the world rose 7.4% year over year in the first quarter of 2021, the strongest growth since before the Great Recession, according to a report Monday from Knight Frank.
In addition, 43 of the 150 cities tracked in the report—or 29%—registered annual price growth of more than 10%, the data showed. And prices are set to rise even further, at least for the moment, according to Kate Everett-Allen, Knight Frank’s head of international residential research and the author of the report.
“Three factors may push prices higher in the short to medium term. Firstly, the fear of missing out (FOMO)—with borders closed, investors may look closer to home to take advantage of rising prices,” she said in the report. “Secondly, some buyers may be keen to lock in to lower mortgage rates before interest rates start to shift higher, and finally, with large sums of accrued savings evident in some markets, a second home may now be within reach for some.”
The Turkish city of Izmir, located on the country’s Aegean coast, saw the biggest growth, with a nearly 34% surge in average home prices in the first three months of 2021, the report found. Ankara, Turkey’s capital, ranked second on the Global Residential Cities Index with a 30.3% year-over-year jump in average prices, while Istanbul was fourth on the list with average prices up 28.8% for the same time period. Some of the price appreciation can be chalked up to steep inflation in the country, which has driven real estate prices higher.
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