Global housing markets continued their decline in the second quarter, led by weakness in emerging markets, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
Released Thursday, the data showed that house prices were down by 1.4% on a year-over-year basis in the second quarter, which was a steeper drop than in the first quarter, when prices were down by 0.8%.
However, the data revealed a growing divergence between advanced and emerging economies.
The BIS reported that prices were actually up slightly in the advanced economies, rising 0.2% on an annual basis in Q2, marking the first annual gain since the third quarter of 2022.
Emerging market economies drove the decline in global markets, with prices down by 2.6% in Q2. This represented an acceleration from the 1.0% decline in the first quarter.
These headline trends masked the fact that there was also a divergence within these broad categories.
For instance, among the advanced economies, prices were down 4.8% in Canada and 1.2% in Europe in Q2. Meanwhile, prices were up 1.4% in the U.S. and 4.6% in Australia.
Among the emerging markets, prices were down 4.9% in Asia in Q2. This was partly offset by gains in emerging Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.
Overall, 60% of countries recorded gains in the second quarter, despite the overall decline in prices.
“This reflects the fact that the continuous decline in global real house prices has been primarily driven by a few major jurisdictions, particularly China (–7.6%) and to a lesser extent India (–1.5%),” BIS reported.
Global prices are also up 4% since the pandemic hit, and up 21% since the global financial crisis, the BIS said, noting that prices are up 50% in Canada and the U.S. since 2010.