Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi real estate market has continued to perform negatively among global peers.

A new report said the kingdom ranked 56th out of 59 nations in the fourth quarter of 2017, making it one of the worst markets.

Property prices in the kingdom inched down 0.2% during Q4-17, while the full year 2017 saw an overall 2.2% decrease, data released by Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index showed.

The increase in main cities such as Riyadh and Jeddah pressured the prices of rents and sales, the research firm said.

“The Global House Price Index, which tracks the movement in mainstream house prices on a country basis, ended 2017 4.6% higher. Lower than 2016’s 5.3% but a reflection of steady growth nonetheless, tied primarily to the fact the global economy registered growth of 3.7% in 2017,” Knight Frank stated.

However, rising interest rates in the US, UK, and Canada added the withdrawal of stimulus is likely to affect buyer sentiment, the research firm stressed, noting that “with over 13 countries pegged to the US dollar, further rate rises by the Federal Reserve will have repercussions beyond US shores.”

Real estate markets in Russia, Peru, and Ukraine registered the worst performance year-on-year, coming in at 57th, 58th, and 59th on the index after prices in these markets fell 3%, 4.2%, and 5.1%, respectively.

On the other hand, Iceland spearheaded the index after property and rental prices in the country jumped 15%, followed by Hong Kong with 13.7% in Q4-17. However, their annual growth ratios have tumbled to 15% from 20%, real estate market specialist Knight Frank noted.

Canada came in 10th on Knight Frank’s report, while the US and UK ranked 19th and 24th, respectively, followed by Germany at 38th and India at 46th.

The gap between strongest and weakest real estate markets dropped to 20 points, from 27 points during Q4-17.

Knight Frank did not mention any other countries in its report.