Wednesday 29 July 2020 4:57 pm  |  Updated:  Wednesday 29 July 2020 4:58 pm

Prime house price growth slows to lowest rate in 11 years

By: Jessica Clark

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House price growth in global prime residential markets slowed to the lowest rate in 11 years in June as the coronavirus pandemic took its toll.

The Knight Frank prime global cities index increased 0.9 per cent in the year to June, down from 2.3 per cent in March. 

It is the slowest rate of growth since the height of the financial crisis. 

In the second quarter of 2020 the index fell 0.3 per cent, Knight Frank said. 

London was one of the poorest performers, with prime property prices dropping five per cent in the 12-months to June and 3.7 per cent in the three months. 

Manila, Tokyo and Seoul were Asia’s top performers year-on-year, while Stockholm, Geneva and Paris lead the way in Europe.

However five of those six cities registered flat or falling prime prices in the three months to June. 

Prime prices in Australasia and North America were the most resilient in the year to June 2020.

“This is the first opportunity we have had to take the pulse of prime residential markets globally since the Covid-19 pandemic hit large parts of Europe and the Americas,” the Knight Frank report said. 

“At the time of our last update (first quarter 2020) Asia and parts of the Middle East were already reeling from its effects and this was evident in the index results – the five cities registering the weakest growth in the first quarter were all in Asia.

“Fast forward three months and the story, as well as the pandemic, has moved on.

“The index, an unweighted average of the change in prime prices across 45 cities, has reached its lowest rate of annual growth since the fourth quarter 2009 when the world was in the grip of the global financial crisis. 

“Prices increased by 0.9 per cent on average in the year to June 2020, down from 2.3 per cent in March.”