International property markets resist US fall out, says Knight Frank

The fall in house prices in the United States where some areas have seen a drop of over 15% in the past year, is not yet affecting other markets. The Knight Frank Global House Price Index, which measures the performance of international housing markets, reveals that on an unweighted basis prices around the world are rising by 9.60% a year, compared with 9.63% 12 months ago.

Latvia still tops the world price growth list. However it appears that recently the number of transactions, particularly apartments, in Riga has begun to slow. Around 1,200 apartment transactions occurred in February, compared with 1,600 in January. Price rises in other cities have exceeded that of Riga - Sigulda for example saw 5% growth in March alone.

While Germany's market appears to be performing relatively poorly, the latest quarterly data suggest that there has been a turn around in the fortunes of the German market and while prices now may be lower than at the same point 12 months ago, prices compared with the last quarter of 2006 have actually risen by 1.8%.

The Knight Frank index shows that growth across a number of western European markets has slowed - notably in Ireland and Denmark, marking a return to more sustainable rates of growth from the 15% and 24% growth seen in these countries respectively to the first quarter of 2006. However, strong growth has continued in the UK, primarily driven my gains in the London and South Eastern Markets.

Despite recent negative press, the Spanish market continues to record growth, although this is slowing and in some local markets, growth has all but stalled.