Latvia has highest house price growth for 2010

The housing market recovery has stalled, according to the Global Property Guide's latest house price survey. During 2010, only 15 countries for which Q4 statistics are available experienced house price increases, while 21 countries had house price reductions. However, 18 housing markets performed better in 2010 than the previous year, while 16 countries performed worse.

Latvia had the highest price increases across the board out of any country surveyed, with a 19.09% increase in prices in 2010. Singapore came in second with 13.6%, with Israel the third highest performing state at 13.43%.

As for the markets which recorded price reductions, the survey shows that house prices in the United States continued to fall compared to the previous year. Ireland and Greece, which suffered a serious crisis requiring global financial help, also registered sharp declines in real estate prices. Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania and Ukraine suffered from a serious local real estate crisis as well.

The magazine stresses that despite the recovery in the housing market of Baltic countries Latvia and Estonia in 2010, the price hikes have reached their peak and the prices are unlikely to climb any further.  

Source: Global Property Guide, YNet News