Global Housing

The world’s housing markets are growing at their fastest pace since 2007 according to the latest Knight Frank Global Residential Cities Index: Urban house prices are rising at their fastest rate since 2007 and of the 150 cities we track, 43 are now registering annual price growth above 10%.

In Australia, major parties bribe voters with policies designed to inflate housing values in the knowledge that home owners will vote with their wallet.

CNN has released data showing the synchronised house price boom taking place across rich nations.

The Economist has released a new report looking at the synchronised house price boom taking place across rich nations.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) released data yesterday showing that new mortgage commitments hit their highest level on record in January driven by strong growth in both owner-occupiers and investors.

The 2021 Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey has been released and, once again, it ranks Australia as having one of the most expensive housing markets out of the countries surveyed. This year’s report assesses 92 major markets (metropolitan areas) in eight nations for the third quarter of 2020.

For years, utopian urban planners have predicted the end of suburbia.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) yesterday performed a stunning U-turn, reintroducing loan-to-value (LVR) mortgage restrictions just 10 months after such restrictions were lifted to aid the nation’s COVID-19 response.

A new peer-reviewed study from Simon Fraser University (SFU) shows that the “decoupling” of property prices from incomes in Metro Vancouver and to a lesser extent Toronto has been caused by “significant sums of foreign capital that have been excluded from official statistics”.

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has released its house price data for September, which has reported booming sales and record high prices: As shown above, the seasonally adjusted median house price soared 14.1% year-on-year in September, with Auckland rising 11.8% year-on-year and regions outside of Auckland rising 16.3%.

With the global tourism industry in turmoil, Airbnb has axed one-quarter of its global workforce: In the note, written by Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky, the company said that 1,900 employees will be laid off, or 25.3% of its 7,500 workers.

The Teranet-National Bank House Price Index for February has been released, which shows that Canadian house prices rose another 0.4% across the 11 major markets, with annual growth improving to 2.9%: After falling for 14 straight months, Vancouver house prices have clearly bottomed, rising by 1.6% since their trough in September 2019.

Yesterday, we learned that Italy has suspended mortgage repayments amid the coronavirus crisis: Italy’s deputy finance minister has said the government will suspend mortgage payments and other household bills across the entire country during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Teranet-National Bank House Price Index for January has been released, which shows that Canadian house prices rose another 0.1% across the 11 major markets, with annual growth improving to 2.1%: After falling for 14 straight months, Vancouver house prices have clearly bottomed, rising by 0.8% since their trough in September 2019.

The Economist has published an article on the West’s “horrible housing blunder”, which pins the blame for unaffordable housing well and truly on supply-side constraints, combined with inefficient demand-side subsidies: At the root of that failure is a lack of building, especially near the thriving cities in which jobs are plentiful.

The Teranet-National Bank House Price Index for September has been released, which shows that Canadian house prices rose by 0.1% across the 11 major markets, with annual growth improving to 0.7%: However, prices in Vancouver continued to fall, declining by 0.5% in September and down 7.4% since peaking in July 2018.

While the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has advised the Canadian Government to maintain strong macroprudential controls to prevent irresponsible lending, the Government is doing the opposite, summoning the first home buyer (FHB) patsies in a scheme that will launch on 2 September.