"The world's housing markets continued to surge during the year to Q3 2015, and the boom now includes most of Europe, North America, and some parts of Asia. The five strongest housing markets in our global survey were Qatar (+16.42%), New Zealand (+14.86%), Hong Kong (+12.64%), and two European countries: Sweden (+11.26%) and Iceland (+9.24%)," reads the report.
"The biggest y-o-y house-price declines were in UAE (-14.1%), Russia (-13.38%), and Egypt (-12.48%)."
During the year to Q3 2015, house prices rose in 28 of the 41 world's housing markets which have so far published housing statistics, using inflation-adjusted figures. The more upbeat nominal figures, more familiar to the public, showed house price rises in 30 countries, and declines in 11 countries.
Broken by region, Europe's house price boom continues.
"Four of the ten strongest housing markets in our global survey were in Europe. Overall, 15 of the 20 European housing markets for which figures are available in Q3 2015 showed rising house prices compared to the same period in the previous year."
European housing markets with minimal house price rises included Latvia, with house prices rising by 1.95% during the year to Q3 2015, Zagreb, Croatia (1.73%), Slovak Republic (1.43%), Cyprus (0.52%), Spain (0.49%), and Portugal (0.03%). All saw positive quarterly growth during the latest quarter, the Global Property Guide report read.