While the worldwide economy is no longer in a big dip, and house prices continue to remain steady or show signs of growth, we still live in fairly uncertain times. The real estate market changes globally every second. So here is our whistlestop tour of this month’s’ news from around the globe.
Let’s take it easy
Good news, real estate prices are increasing. Bad news, very slowly. In Europe in particular, growth is sedate, rather than rushed. But this could be seen as a positive sign. We wouldn’t want to rush into things now, with cheap loans and subprime mortgages would we? No, who would ever want to do that..
In terms of year on year growth, 35 of the world’s most important cities saw an average price increase of 3.6%, according to research by Knight Frank. The stand-out performer was Vancouver, seeing a massive 25% rise, whereas on the opposite end of the scale, Taipei suffered from a 7.6% decline. Whoops.
China really likes the US
Even if it isn’t reciprocal, Chinese investors are in love with the USA right now. A recent report shows that Chinese nationals have become the largest foreign buyers of US property, pumping over $110 billion into the market over the past 5 years. This is set to double over the next 2 years too.
The investment is not just in housing either, with significant interest in commercial property too. Overall, it is estimated that the Chinese investment has significantly helped the US market recover from the crash in 2008.
EU Referendum Looms
No one is quite sure if the UK will exit the EU, or stay put. Whatever your opinion, it is difficult to predict what will happen to UK property prices after the EU Referendum.
International Monetary Fund manager Christine Lagarde has claimed that it was possible the economy would shrink in two consecutive quarters and impact the housing market. The potential for panic amongst investors could see a downward spiral in the property market, it is claimed. This was also echoed by George Osborne.
On the other side of the argument, Evening Standard journalist Simon Jenkins, doesn’t believe it to be true. He states that in London specifically, the housing market is too complex for large macroeconomic factors to have any influence.
Either way, interesting times are ahead!
Trump Called It
A final, small, note. In 2007, Donald Trump predicted the housing market collapse and even looked forward to it. Apparently.