NZ named as world's 5th fastest house price hikes

New Zealand has the world's fifth fastest rising house prices.

The Knight Frank Global House Price Index released today ranked the country only behind Hong Kong, Turkey, Estonia and Luxembourg for annual house price rises.

New Zealand house prices were listed as rising 10.9 per cent annually, well below Hong Kong's 20.7 per cent rise.

Countries with fast-paced residential price rises bucked international trends.

"Global house prices shifted marginally in the year to June 2015 rising by only 0.1%," Knight Frank said. "Lingering concerns over the Eurozone economy, jitters in global stock markets and discussions of when, not if, a US rate rise occurs is impinging on growth.:

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New Zealand also ranked ahead of Hungary, Norway, Mexico, India, Indonesia, Germany, Denmark and South Africa where prices have also risen steeply lately.

The index tracked house price changes in 56 "mainstream residential markets" and said Hong Kong continued to defy policymakers' cooling measures due to its prices up 20.7 per cent year-on-year.

Knight Frank Global House Price Index
Rank Country 12-month change
1 Hong Kong* 20.7%
2 Turkey 18.5%
3 Estonia 13.4%
4 Luxembourg 13.2%
5 New Zealand 10.9%
6 Ireland 10.7%
7 Sweden 8.8%
8 Iceland 7.8%
9 Colombia 7.2%
10 Australia 6.9%
[Source: Knight Frank Global House Price Index]