Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2014; all figures, including second-quarter 2014 data and inflation-adjusted year-on-year changes, are from that year. The housing markets of every country listed, Ukraine and Russia in particular, have changed completely since.
Property prices are still rising in practically every part of the world, according to the Global Property Guide report, but there are some countries where the recovery of the housing market is not going well at all.
And one of those countries is Spain, where, far from the improvement one might expect, house prices could stay flat for 14 years, as El Confidencial reported.
These would be the 9 worst property markets in the world, as compiled by Business Insider using data from the Global Property Guide report, based on inflation-adjusted price performance as of Q2.
9. Finland
House prices in Finland fell 1.21% year on year. Prices rose 0.55% during Q2 2014.
8. Slovak Republic
House prices in the Slovak Republic fell 1.45% year on year. Prices fell 1.00% during Q2 2014.
7. Croatia
House prices in Croatia fell 2.52% year on year, following a sharp 21.13% drop in 2013. Prices fell 0.07% during Q2 2014.
6. Spain
House prices in Spain fell 3.12% year on year. Prices fell 0.78% during Q2 2014.
5. Romania
House prices in Romania fell 4.74% year on year. Prices fell 3.58% during Q2 2014.
4. Singapore
House prices in Singapore fell 5.02% year on year. Prices fell 1.21% during Q2 2014.
3. Russia
House prices in Russia fell 5.96% year on year. Prices fell 1.31% during Q2 2014.
2. Greece
House prices in Greece fell 6.51% year on year. Prices fell 2.64% during Q2 2014.
1. Ukraine – Kiev
House prices in Ukraine fell a whopping 28.56% year on year. In 2013 prices had risen 5.88%. Prices fell 24.37% during Q2 2014.
The usual advice is to invest in property when it is cheap, but the truth is that, according to the forecasts, it could get even cheaper unless the real root problem is solved: the loss of purchasing power of consumers and high unemployment. Without that, you can’t sell flats, or even sweets.
Featured image: Ввласенко, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
