Australia’s house price growth ranked 5th globally during the third quarter of this year, with 18.9% annual year-on-year growth.  

According to Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index, Australia’s house price growth was higher than the second quarter, when growth was 16.4%.  

“It is interesting to see Australia take out the 5th position globally for the growth in house prices in Q3 of 2021 – the last time we were in a top five position was at the end of 2015, prior to tightened lending restrictions being implemented,” said Knight Frank Australia Partner and Head of Residential Shayne Harris. 

“The impact that the pandemic has had on our house prices is clear, with Knight Frank data showing that our average annual price growth from 2015 – 2020 was 4.4%, which rose to average growth of 9.8% since the start of the pandemic.  

“As at Q3 2021, the Australian mainstream market has had eight quarters of uninterrupted positive annual growth, and the market continues to heat up as much desirable stock is in short supply and interest rates remain at historic lows. 

“However, we do expect the growth in Australia’s house prices to slow in 2022, perhaps by as much as 10% (from 18% in 2021 to 8% in 2022), as we reach a tipping point for affordability.” 

Next year, Harris expects Australians to be influenced by further restrictions of lending, an increase in house listings and different considerations about how they deploy their capital as international travel resumes and some elements of pre-COVID life return. 

Prices across the 56 countries and territories tracked by the index increased by 9.4% on average for Q3, with 96% registering positive growth year-on-year.   

The highest price growth was recorded in Turkey with 35.5%, followed by South Korea (26.4%) and then New Zealand (21.9%).