In the first quarter of 2011, housing prices in most countries around the world have stopped to grow or showed a decline. Ukraine on the dynamics of growth was in 46th place out of the top 50. The first place went to France.

An international consulting company Knight Frank presented the results of a global index of home prices (Global House Price Index) for the first quarter.

According to research, Ukraine ranked 46th on the dynamics of price growth. Prices in the average in the country for the year fell by 7.5% and over six months at 1.6%. One of the factors falling prices for the secondary real estate in Ukraine is the lack of demand.

According to market players, now in Ukraine, the rules dictates no longer a seller but buyerwho became also more selective in choosing the object of purchase. In 2010, the number of trades slightly increased, but to reach the 2008 level was not possible.

"In 2006-2007, more than half the deals on real estate market was carried out through speculative capital. Now the speculators are not more than 10%, and flats, exposed to market tens of thousands, sellers have to lower prices, "- said a marketing expert company SV Development Sergey Kostecki.

If in 2008 on the secondary market were sold 20 thousand apartments , in the primary - 10 thousand, for 2009 the number of sales in the primary market was now only about one thousand apartments , in the secondary - 6000 apartments. In 2010, the number of deals slightly increased, but to reach the 2008 level has not been possible.

France - the leader of the fall

In Europe, the leader of the dynamics of price growth was France, which from the 30th place last year shot up to 6th in the current. Behind her is Poland (7th place), but Norway was on the 9th row. House prices in France mirror those of the improving economic situation in the country. Thus, in the first quarter of 2011, French GDP grew by 1%, the highest increase in this index, as recorded in the second quarter of 2006.

Sweden and Germany have experienced several quarters of positive price movements only to the first quarter of 2011 to fall in the ranking - these countries occupy the 26th and 27th places. In general, the world price of housing increased by only 1.8% per year as of March 2011. This is the slowest annual increase in prices, as recorded in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Housing prices in 25 of the 50 countries of indexing remained stable or showed a negative trend during the first three months of 2011. For comparison, a year ago, such pricing behavior was observed only in 18 countries.

Economies of European countries like Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, show a mixed picture. Spain is still battling with a significant drop in prices of 2.5% last quarter, although this low figure has surpassed Ireland with its 4.5% percent drop over the same period.

It is interesting that Greece and Portugal showing signs of improvement: their prices have risen over the last quarter, which is surprising in an economic slowdown in these countries. Among the regions of Asia continues to show the world the best results. So, here recorded 8.4% percent increase in prices over the past 12 months. However, this figure lower than last year, was 17.8%.

The results of a global index of residential real estate prices by Knight Frank for the I quarter 2011

Source: Knight Frank Residential Research

* Based on markets in Beijing and Shanghai