India sees 3rd highest rise in housing prices in January-March quarter

NEW DELHI: India witnessed the third highest rise of 12 per cent globally in housing prices in January- March quarter of 2012 over the year-ago period, according to consultant Knight Frank.

Housing prices in India, however, declined by 0.9 per cent when compared with the previous quarter.

"Brazil recorded the strongest annual growth (23.5 per cent) and Ireland the weakest (minus 16.3 per cent)," it said.

The Knight Frank Global House Price Index monitors and compare the performance of 53 mainstream residential markets across the world.

Austria ranked fourth with 11 per cent rise in housing prices, followed by Germany (9.8 per cent), Colombia (9.6 per cent), Turkey (8.7 per cent), Russia (8.2 per cent), Iceland (7.3 per cent) and Canada (6.8 per cent).

In China, the prices have declined by 2.2 per cent. "The Chinese housing market has had a tough 12 months as developers and purchasers alike have had bank finance squeezed as a consequence of the ongoing cooling measures.

"Lending restrictions, new taxes, the curbing of multiple property purchases, and new regulations to restrict the inward flow of hot foreign money have had the desired effect," Knight Frank's Director of Research in Asia Pacific Nicholas Holt said.

The report further said that during the first quarter of 2012, the housing prices fell in 58 per cent of the countries monitored by the index.

Knight Frank's report noted that the Global House Price Index recorded its weakest annual performance since the depths of the recession in 2009, recording only 0.9 per cent growth in the year to March 2012.

"Doubts over the Eurozone's future, along with the Asian governments' staunch efforts to cool their markets and deter speculative investment, have taken their toll," it explained.