Jan 2nd 2014, 14:55 by J.M.F. and D.H.
HOUSE prices are picking up globally. Values are rising in 18 of the 23 countries we track, compared with just 12 a year ago. The Case-Shiller index released on New Year’s Eve reported price increases of 13.6% in the year to October 2013. Homes in America have risen in value by 24% since their March 2012 trough, but they remain 20% below their peak in April 2006. In Britain, prices increased at their fastest rate in three years in October, fuelling fears of a housing bubble (and pop). The north-south divide in the euro area continues—prices still fall in the indebted south. Yet the market has finally bottomed out in Ireland: after halving over six years, prices are now 9% above their March low. And homes in Germany are rising at the fastest rate since reunification, although housing is still undervalued against both rents and income. Fears grow of a bubble in China, where prices increased by 8.7% in the year to November 2013, according to The Economist’s index, based on official figures from 70 Chinese cities. Brazil, which hosts the football World Cup in June, is also having a housing boom. Prices increased 13% in the 12 months to November and in Rio, which hosts the Olympics in 2016, they have trebled since 2008.
Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/11/global-house-prices retrieved 5 June 2014
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