The international consulting company Knight Frank presented the results of the Global House Price Index for the fourth quarter of 2013. Based on a comparison of indicators of the dynamics of real estate prices in 56 countries of the world, the following conclusions were made: Russia took 22nd place in the annual dynamics of growth in prices for residential real estate as of the fourth quarter of 2013, prices on average across the country increased by 4.2% over year. At the end of 2012, Russia ranked 5th with a growth rate of 10.2%. The decrease by 17 points in the ranking is due to a slowdown in price growth in Russia and higher annual dynamics shown by some other countries.

Prices in global housing markets increased by 8.4% over the year and by 1.2% in the last quarter of 2013. This is the highest annual price increase since the index was created in 1995. Housing prices increased in 39 countries in 2013; a year ago, only 27 countries showed an increase in prices.

The highest annual price increase of 34.8% was recorded in Dubai, but prices in this market remain below their 2008 peak by 25%.

The lowest result was recorded in Ukraine, which recorded a 25.9% fall in property prices over the year as of the fourth quarter of 2013. Apart from Ukraine, Croatia and Greece showed the strongest decline in the cost of a square meter of housing. Based on the results of the fourth quarter of 2013, European countries are still at the bottom of the ranking, but in most of them the rate of price decline slowed down in 2013.

Nikolay Pashkov, General Director of Knight Frank St. Petersburg, said: “On the local market, the last six months have been characterized by increased demand from buyers in all segments of the residential real estate market and an increase in sales volumes. We attribute this trend to instability in the financial sector and devaluation expectations of the population. In such conditions, private investors are seeking to invest money funds into those assets that seem more reliable to them. In Russia, residential real estate is traditionally considered one of such assets.”

Elena Yurgeneva, Director of the Luxury Residential Real Estate Department, Knight Frank Russia & CIS, comments: “The ambiguous political situation and the expectation of possible sanctions against Russia force private investors from Russia to take a pause and watch developments. Investors from Russia and the CIS countries traditionally make one of the main forces in the global premium real estate market: for example, according to analysts at Knight Frank headquarters, in the UK, every sixth property is now purchased by a person from Russia or the CIS countries. Of course, the decline in the activity of such a significant part of buyers cannot go unnoticed. for markets. As for the dynamics in Russia, we are now noticing a significant increase in the activity of buyers in the domestic market: high volatility of stock indices and an unstable situation in the banking sector traditionally lead to investors starting to invest available funds in real estate."

Denis Kozhin

Housing prices are rising again