Shenzhen tops global ranking in home price growth

The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen has topped a global ranking in home price growth in the year to March 2016, according to a Knight Frank survey.

Home prices in Shenzhen were up 62.5 percent on average over the period, thanks to the city's expanding technology industry, the survey showed.

There were three other Chinese cities -- Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing -- in the global top five in terms of price increases, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Home prices in Shanghai rose 30.5 percent in the twelve months to March, while Nanjing saw a rise of 17.8 percent and Beijing 17.6 percent.

The rapid acceleration of prices in several Chinese cities was attributed to an easing in monetary policy by the People's Bank of China.

"Chinese households have taken on more and more debt, fueling price growth further," Kate Everett-Allen, head of International Residential Research at Knight Frank, was quoted as saying.

The rate of growth for China, however, could slow down during the remainder of the year, amid new measures introduced in March in cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai.

The only non-Chinese city in the top five globally was Istanbul, where house prices rose by 19.6 percent.

Knight Frank’s Global Residential Cities Index, which was released on Friday, was up 4.5 percent in the year March, as 74 percent of 150 locations tracked saw housing prices rise, the Journal said.

- Contact us at [email protected]

RA/RC