While house prices remain mixed in Europe and the United States, Asia is booming, with Singapore in pole position, according to the latest Global Property Guide.
The report calls Singapore a 'spectacular performer' with 34 per cent house price increases year-on-year to the end of the second quarter.
This was the highest increase among all countries surveyed by the guide, and the highest recorded year-on-year increase in the country since 1995.
Official figures look even rosier. According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Singapore's all-residential private property price index (PPI) rose 38.2 per cent year-on-year in the first half.
On a year-to-date basis, based on URA's flash estimate for the third quarter, the PPI grew 14.7 per cent. Overall, the PPI has recovered by 42.5 per cent since bottoming in the second quarter of last year.
Tay Huey Ying, director for research and advisory, Colliers International, explains why the stars are aligned for Singapore, citing the country's strong economic recovery from the global financial crisis, low interest rates, a buoyant Housing Development Board market (HDB, the equivalent of public housing) and small-format apartments.
'A tightening employment market and potential increment in salary that comes with the robust economic growth has buoyed buyers' confidence about their financial ability to commit to mortgages,' she says.