Hong Kong Tops List Of Global House Price Rises
by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong
15 September 2004

Property prices in Hong Kong have risen faster than in any other country featured in the global house price survey undertaken by the Economist magazine, it has emerged.

According to the publication’s quarterly survey, which studied property market data in 20 countries, house prices in Hong Kong recorded an annual gain of 28.7% last year.

South Africa and New Zealand recorded the next highest gains at 25.5% and 22.1% respectively.

The study found that house price growth was in double digits in eleven of the 20 countries examined, with prices now at record levels relative to average income in several, including: the US, the UK, Australia, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain.

Nonetheless, three of the countries featured, namely Germany, Singapore and Japan, managed to buck last year’s global trend and record declines in average house prices.

For Hong Kong however, the figures represent a dramatic comeback for the territory’s property market, which has undergone a sustained slump for almost a decade.

Illustrating the strength of the property market bounce, prices declined by 17% in the year previous to the study, and overall values in the city are today on average 55% beneath their 1997 levels.

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