Dubai house prices up 2.3% in Q4

Dubai's house prices rose by 2.3 percent in the last three months of 2011, according to the latest Knight Frank Global House Price Index. The real estate firm ranked Dubai 26th out of 52 property markets around the world - a list it once propped up after the house price crash in 2009. Knight Frank said Dubai house prices rose 0.5 percent over the full year of 2011, while they increased by 0.4 percent between the second and fourth quarters of last year. The index showed that Dubai saw a bigger recovery in the final quarter with a 2.3 percent rise, putting the emirate in the top 10 performers in the world for the period. Overall, the Knight Frank Global House Price Index rose 0.5 percent in 2011 but prices fell 0.3 percent in the final three months of the year.     The gap between the top (Brazil up 26 percent on the year) and bottom (Ireland down 17 percent) performers in the index was 43 percent, Knight Frank added.      On a regional basis house prices fell fastest in Europe (-0.8 percent) while growth in Asia Pacific slowed to 2.8 percent.      During the final quarter of 2011, house prices fell in 60 percent of the countries surveyed, Knight Frank said. Knight Frank international researcher Kate Everett-Allen said the Q4 results represented the Global House Price index’s weakest quarterly performance since Q2 2009. "This suggests that a return to significant house price growth around the world is some way off yet," she said. "No improvement is expected until the gap between house prices and two of its key determinants – incomes and rents – starts to shrink and the excess supply of new homes built in many locations during the boom years prior to 2008 is absorbed." Asia’s downturn has proved highly influential. In 2007 China, Hong Kong and Singapore saw price rises of 42 percent, 21 percent and 33 percent respectively. Last year, growth was -2 percent, 11 percent and 5 percent. Brazil, a new addition to the index this quarter, topped the rankings with 26 percent price growth in 2011. All 12 of the bottom rankings were occupied by European markets with Ireland, down 17 percent, in last place.