Global House Prices Rising at Fastest Pace in 15 Years

A boom in housing demand during the global pandemic has driven price growth to a 15-year high, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index, measuring average home prices across 56 countries and territories, rose 7.3% year over year in the first quarter, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2006.

“A contributory factor to rising house prices globally has been the mass reassessment of housing needs in the wake of the pandemic, whether that’s been buyers seeking home offices, gardens or just to be closer to wide-open spaces,” Kate Everett-Allen, head of international residential research at Knight Frank, told Mansion Global.

“The demands on the home have increased in lockdowns and homeowners have reflected on where and how they want to live, prompting many to relocate or purchase a second home,” she added.

With a 32% year-over-year price increase, Turkey led the rankings for the fifth consecutive quarter. However, stripping out inflation, real house prices rose around 16% annually in the country.

“Turkey’s somewhat of a red herring,” Ms. Everett-Allen said. “Sales declined in 2020 but prices increased due to inflation and the weak Turkish lira. Construction costs are also rising due to tight supply chains.”

A total of 13 countries, primarily developed nations, registered double-digit annual price growth. Those include New Zealand (22%), the U.S. (13%), Sweden (13%), Austria (12%), Canada (10.8%) and the U.K. (10.2%).

“Homeowners in these developed nations have also seen some of the largest rates of accrued savings. For some, this may mean they now have a deposit for their first home, or enable existing homeowners to upgrade,” Ms. Everett-Allen said.

For example, the Bank of England estimates that U.K. householders have amassed some £250 billion (US$354 billion) in savings since the start of the pandemic, she said.

Wary of potential housing bubbles, some countries have adopted market-cooling measures to curb the rapid price growth since January. China, New Zealand and Ireland introduced higher stamp duties for investment properties.

China is also considering a national vacancy tax or property tax, as is Canada.

Home prices in China, excluding Hong Kong, rose 4.3% year over year in the first quarter, while Ireland home prices increased 3.7% during the same period.

However, not all countries experienced a housing boom in the first quarter. Four countries saw their housing prices drop from a year ago, including Malaysia (-0.9%), Morocco (-1.2%), India (-1.6%) and Spain (-1.8%), according to the report.

Many luxury hotels only build on their gilded reputations with each passing decade. But others are less fortunate. Here are five long-gone grandes dames that fell from grace—and one that persists, but in a significantly diminished form.

The Proto-Marmont |

The Garden of Allah, Los Angeles

A magnet for celebrities, the Garden of Allah was once the scene-making equivalent of today’s Chateau Marmont. Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner’s affair allegedly started there and Humphrey Bogart lived in one of its bungalows for a time.

Crimean expat Alla Nazimova leased a grand home in Hollywood after World War I, but soon turned it into a hotel, where she prioritised glamorous clientele. Others risked being ejected by guards and a fearsome dog dubbed the Hound of the Baskervilles. Demolished in the 1950s, the site’s now a parking lot.

The Failed Follow-Up |

Hotel Astor, New York City

The Astor family hoped to repeat their success when they opened this sequel to their megahit Waldorf Astoria hotel in 1904. It became an anchor of the nascent Theater District, buzzy (and naughty) enough to inspire Cole Porter to write in “High Society”: “Have you heard that Mimsie Starr…got pinched in the Astor Bar?”

That bar soon gained another reputation. “Gentlemen who preferred the company of other gentlemen would meet in a certain section of the bar,” said travel expert Henry Harteveldt of consulting firm Atmosphere Research. By the 1960s, the hotel had lost its lustre and was demolished; the 54-storey One Astor Plaza skyscraper was built in its place.

The Island Playground |

Santa Carolina Hotel, Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique

In the 1950s, colonial officers around Africa treated Mozambique as an off-duty playground. They flocked, in particular, to the Santa Carolina, a five-star hotel on a gorgeous archipelago off the country’s southern coast.

Run by a Portuguese businessman and his wife, the resort included an airstrip that ferried visitors in and out. Ask locals why the place was eventually reduced to rubble, and some whisper that the couple were cursed—and that’s why no one wanted to take over when the business collapsed in the ’70s. Today, seeing the abandoned, crumbled ruins and murals bleached by the sun, it’s hard to dismiss their superstitions entirely.

The Tourism Gimmick |

Bali Hai Raiatea, French Polynesia

The overwater bungalow, a shorthand for barefoot luxury around the world, began in French Polynesia—but not with the locals. Instead, it was a marketing gimmick cooked up by a trio of rascally Americans. They moved to French Polynesia in the late 1950s, and soon tried to capitalise on the newly built international airport and a looming tourism boom.

That proved difficult because their five-room hotel on the island of Raiatea lacked a beach. They devised a fix: building rooms on pontoons above the water. They were an instant phenomenon, spreading around the islands and the world—per fan site OverwaterBungalows.net , there are now more than 9,000 worldwide, from the Maldives to Mexico. That first property, though, is no more.

The New England Holdout |

Poland Springs Resort, Poland, Maine

The Ricker family started out as innkeepers, running a stagecoach stop in Maine in the 1790s. When Hiram Ricker took over the operation, the family expanded into the business by which it would make its fortune: water. Thanks to savvy marketing, by the 1870s, doctors were prescribing Poland Spring mineral water and die-hards were making pilgrimages to the source.

The Rickers opened the Poland Spring House in 1876, and eventually expanded it to include one of the earliest resort-based golf courses in the country, a barber shop, dance studio and music hall. By the turn of the century, it was among the most glamorous resort complexes in New England.

Mismanagement eventually forced its sale in 1962, and both the water operation and hospitality holdings went through several owners and operators. While the water venture retains its prominence, the hotel has weathered less well, becoming a pleasant—but far from luxurious—mid-market resort. Former NYU hospitality professor Bjorn Hanson says attempts at upgrading over the decades have been futile. “I was a consultant to a developer in the 1970s to return the resort to its ‘former glory,’ but it never happened.”