There’s plenty of chat around about how high house prices are in Sydney and to a lesser extent Melbourne right now.
With all the rhetoric and statistics about our local markets, is Australia the most expensive place to buy property in the world?
The short answer is no.
A new global index shows that Hong Kong’s house prices have risen at almost three times the rate of Australia’s in the 12 months to March this year.
According to Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index, house prices in China were also a big mover, rising a whopping 18.7 per cent compared to the 6.8 per cent recorded here in Australia.
The figures are a stark reminder of the two-tier property market in the country, where prices continue to skyrocket in Sydney, are solidly rising in Melbourne, and largely flat elsewhere
Michelle Ciesielski from Knight Frank highlighted this point when she spoke to The Age.
“We would certainly be looking at a top three spot if we were just ranking Sydney,” she said.
“There’s quite a large disparity between Australian cities, even between Sydney and Melbourne.”
“Australia’s high growth is being driven by Sydney,” Ms Ciesielski said.
“Melbourne is certainly contributing as well but other cities like Darwin and Canberra definitely aren’t travelling as strongly. Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth have all slowed over the last quarter.”
FASTEST GROWING MARKETS
Annual change in the 15 countries with the highest annual price growth in the year to March 2015.
