Australian houses prices world beaters
Australian house prices have grown at one of the fastest rates across the world. Property researcher, the Global Property Guide, reported that Australian prices grew at the third fastest pace in the world ranking behind Singapore and Hong Kong, after prices rose by almost 15 percent in the 12 months to June 2010.
South east Asian countries, amongst which Australia is considered located, were experiencing booms while other major nations in the western world, USA for example, were still experiencing declines. In the US, home sale plummeted in July to a level not seen in more than a decade. Sales of previously owned homes fell 27.2 percent from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million, the lowest level reached since 1999.
Topping the list of countries was Singapore which recorded a price increase of 34 per cent followed by Hong Kong and Taiwan. In China which had recorded some of the fastest growth rates earlier in the year, prices moderated after some credit tightening moves by the government. In terms of restrictions, bank mortgages were restricted to lower loan to valuation rations on new home loans and increasing the deposit requirements for investment properties to a 50 percent loan to valuation ratio.
In comparison, European prices in some countries collapsed with Latvia as a case in point plummeting 34 percent in 2008 followed by a further 53 percent in 2009. US house prices fell 3.3 percent in the year while prices were strong in South America which as been experiencing a boom for the past three years. No official statistics are available.