South Africa

Knight Frank

South Africa

Quarterly Rank: 21
Quarterly Price Change: -1.4%

Annual Rank: 19
Annual Price Change: -4.1%

South Africa has seen a major slump in its housing market. The economy is in recession after contracting for three consecutive quarters up to the second quarter of 2009. Residential building activity experienced significant strain in the period from January to July 2009, as both planning and construction phases were under pressure. Last year, South Africa saw its lowest home price growth since 1996. But the government is hoping to spur spending by bringing prime and mortgage interest rates back to their mid-2006 levels of 10.5%.