Sofia in the world statistics in the growth of housing prices

Sofia is 18th among the 150 cities with the strongest housing price growth in the first quarter of 2018, according to the Global Residential Cities index of the consulting companies.

Household prices in the Bulgarian capital show a growth of 11.3%, while the consultants use data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI) for the third quarter of 2017. Sofia moves one place ahead compared to the last year's index of the consultancy company , when he was first included and took 19th place. So the capital remains in the red zone of the ranking of the hottest housing markets in the world.

We recall that in June Bulgaria was put in seventh place among the fastest growing housing markets in the world, with prices in the first quarter of 9% on an annual basis.

Prices in key cities in the world are rising at their slowest pace since the third quarter of 2015, rising from 4% in the 12 months to March 2018, up from 6.4% a year earlier, according to the index of the consulting company.
The Indian city of Surat headed the list with a 22% rise in prices in the first quarter, followed by Izmir in Turkey by 16.5%, Hong Kong by 15.6% and Vancouver by 15.4%.

Berlin is the fastest growing housing market in Europe with a 14.9% rise in prices, followed by Rotterdam by 14.8% and Budapest by 14.1%. Top Australian cities Hobart (14.1%), Ahmedabad in India (13%) and Seattle with an increase of 12.9%, which makes it the hottest housing market, are among the top ten fastest growing housing markets in the world in USA.

Prior to Sofia, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Reykjavik, Frankfurt, Dublin, Porto and Hiddarabad also ranked.

The recovery of European cities is largely due to improved economic prospects in the region and to the imbalances between supply and demand.

Despite better prospects for the economy of the Old Continent, job creation and consumer confidence, housing supply is slowing down. Despite the incentives of governments in some markets, the target for the number of completed dwellings has not been achieved. This imbalance between supply and demand puts pressure on prices.

Abu Dhabi is the worst housing market in the world with a 7.2% drop in prices, followed by Turin with a decline of 7.1%, Genoa with a decline of 6.6%, Darwin with a 6.5% drop and Moscow with a decline of 6.1%. The top ten of the world's weakest housing markets include Rio de Janeiro, Oslo, Delhi, Dubai and Chennai.

While a year ago, 12 cities in the world have achieved a growth of over 20% on an annual basis, in the first quarter this has made only one city - Surat. The consulting companies note that this growth is mainly due to the unusually low base in the first quarter of 2017 due to the unprecedented withdrawal of high-denomination banknotes in the country.

Overall, the upward trend in prices in Europe continues. 11 of the 20 leading cities in annual growth are on the Old Continent.

At the same time, insufficient stock has pushed up prices in Seattle with a growth of 12.9%, while in San Francisco and Los Angeles it reached 12.9% and 11.2%, respectively. Despite the three rises in US interest rates by March 2018, average prices in the 15 cities included in the index rose by 6.8% in the 12-month period.

Birmingham is the strongest housing market in the UK with a 6.4% rise in prices in the first quarter, while in London they are down by 0.6%, according to the experts.

Southern Europe is becoming more polarized. While Italian cities take solid seats at the bottom of the stadium, Spanish and Portuguese cities are performing more strongly. Porto, Malaga and Madrid are at the forefront of the annual price index of 11.7%, 10.4% and 10.3% respectively.

No Chinese city except Hong Kong is present in the top 20 of the fastest growing housing markets in the world, although they have been dominant in recent years. Facing a potential housing bubble, the Chinese government has taken measures to tighten mortgage lending and cushion speculative investment on the property market.

Significant cooling is also seen in housing markets in Australia and New Zealand, with Wellington falling to 38th with an annual price increase of 7.2% compared to 11th and a price increase of 20.6% a year earlier , and Sydney even recorded a price drop of 0.5% in the first quarter compared with an increase of 14.4% in the same period of the previous year.