Australia’s property market has been named one of the 10 hottest in the world for prices growth.
The Knight Frank Global House Price Index has ranked Australia’s property price growth over the past year as the seventh-strongest internationally following an annual increase of 10.9 per cent.
The news of Australia’s official ranking may feed property watchers’ concerns over a price bubble. However, in line with recent data showing the market is beginning to cool, the Knight Frank report reveals growth in Australian house prices slowed to a more moderate 2.1 per cent over the first quarter of this year.
The chairman of CBRE Residential, Justin Brown, said he wasn’t surprised by Australia’s strong ranking and dismissed talk that it pointed to a potential asset bubble.
Australia’s location on Asia’s doorstep and the restricted development opportunities in the nation’s cities “due to geographic reasons” were prime drivers for prices growth, he said.
“We’ve got quite a pent-up demand both domestically and internationally,” said Brown, who has predicted Australian house prices will continue growing between 5 and 7 per cent a year for the next five years.
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