【Knight Frank】Global Residential Cities Index - Q1 2019
【Knight Frank】Global Residential Cities Index - Q1 2019
The Hungarian capital of Budapest leads the index for the second consecutive quarter with average prices rising 25% over the 12-month period. A robust economy, higher wages and historically low mortgage rates are fuelling demand. The IMF forecast GDP growth of 3.2% in 2019 for Hungary, compared to 1.6% for the wider European Union and interest rates on new residential loans have fallen from 10.5% to around 4.7% over the last six years. Chinese cities occupy five of the other top ten rankings with the city of Xi’an (24%) leading the way. A comparison of one-year and five-year price growth confirms that it is second and third tier cities that are now performing strongest, with tier one cities such as Beijing and Shanghai experiencing slower growth.