Knight Frank included 33 countries in their Global House Price Index for the second quarter of 2009.  Unfortunately none of the markets we cover - Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize and Panama - form part of the index. We’ve written before about the lack of comparable data in Central America and how we plan to help fill the data gap for international real estate.

Still the global context is important for regional buyers and sellers, so we’ve summarized the results below.  The full data and analysis from Knight Frank can be seen here.

• House prices increased in almost half of the locations reporting prices for the second quarter of 2009.
• The picture has improved from the first quarter where double-digit falls were seen in a number of locations. In the second quarter, price falls did not exceed 10% in any country.
• Dubai recorded the largest year-on-year falls at 47%, but prices seem to be falling at a slower rate now - losing 7.5% from the first quarter 2009
• In Israel house prices increased 12.5% over a 12 month period, making it the top performer in the sample.
• The report concludes that although there are signs that the prices are beginning to bottom out, the market is still “fragile and patchy.”