"Europe is back! Four of the five strongest housing markets in our global survey were in Europe. In all, seventeen European markets performed better during the year to Q3 2014 than the previous year, and only four showed weaker momentum: Russia, Ukraine (down 36.60%), and Finland and Switzerland which had modest price-gains, but smaller gains than last year. Everywhere else in Europe, housing market momentum was stronger this year than last," reads the press release.
Four out of the five strongest housing markets in Global Property Guide's global survey were in Europe and those were Estonia, Ireland, the UK and Turkey.
"In Tallinn, Estonia, best performer in Europe, the average price of dwellings surged by 15.3% during the year to Q3 2014, up from the 12.46% growth seen last year. House prices increased 2.51% q-o-q during the latest quarter. This was fuelled by an improving economy."
"In Ireland, residential property prices rose 14.52% during the year to Q3 2014, a remarkable improvement from a y-o-y increase of 3.45% in the same period last year. Irish house prices rose strongly by 6.43% q-o-q in Q3 2014.
"The UK property market continued to show impressive performance. Nationwide house prices rose by 8.95% y-o-y in Q3 2014, a sharp improvement from an annual increase of 1.47% in the previous year and the second biggest increase since Q4 2004.
"In Turkey, house prices rose by 7.51% during the year to Q3 2014, after an annual rise of 4.65% in the previous year. House prices increased strongly by 3.87% during the latest quarter."
As for Croatia, the report reads that the EU newcomer "saw a house price rise of 2.64% during the year to Q3 2014 - a truly dramatic recovery from a decline of 17.69% during the same period last year."
The wider context is that the global house price boom continues. House prices rose in 30 of the 39 world's housing markets which so far published housing statistics, using inflation-adjusted figures. The more upbeat nominal figures, more familiar to the public, showed house price rises in 32 countries, and declines in only 7 countries.
Dubai was the world's top performer, with housing prices rising 23.73% during the year to Q3. However, housing prices in Dubai fell slightly during the latest quarter.
Global Property Guide notes that inflation-adjusted figures are used throughout this release.