Bulgaria is again number one in the world in terms of home price growth for Q1, a report by Knight Frank property agency released today revealed.

The average increase of prices in Bulgaria in the first quarter of the year stands at 31.5%, compared with 22.6% in Q1 last year.

This shows how Bulgaria continues to be uninfluenced by the real estate market crisis sweeping the world, says Liam Baily, analyst in Knight Frank.

Singapore is second in the chart with a hike of 29.9%, against 13.5% in Q1 2007.

As a whole there is a tendency for a slow down of home appreciation in the world, the report also states.

The average global growth in Q1 is 6.1%, down from 9.2% last year.

Another country that surprised analysts is Iceland, which continues to sustain a stable growth rate, coming to 19.1% in Q1.

The moods on the global real estate market, however, continue to be pessimistic.

A certain standstill is also observed in the Baltic states. Home prices in Latvia decreased by 20%, which made the country the worst performer in the world in Q1. Moreover, homes in Latvia appreciated by some 60% in Q1 last year.

The US market continues to experience difficulties and investors in the sector are moving their focus to eastern cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

Earlier this week, a Standard and Poor's S%P/Case-Schiller report on the US market showed home prices have fallen some 14.4%.


CountryQ1 2008 Q1 2007 1Bulgaria31.5%22.6%2Singapore29.9%13.5%3Hong Kong 28.8%2.7%4Jersey Island28.0%4.5%5Russia21.7%#N/A6Iceland19.1%9.7%7Australia13.8%8.6%8China11.7%5.5%9Sweden9.1%-0.3%10RSA8.8%13.6%11Croatia7.1%0.0%12Canada6.1%12.6%13Indonesia6.1%5.5%14Holland4.5%8.0%15Norway3.8%16.4%16Spain3.8%7.2%17Portugal3.8%1.2%18Finland3.6%5.2%19Poland3.0%0.0%20France2.5%7.7%21New Zealand2.1%12.4%22Hingary1.2%3.8%23Austria1.2%6.1%24Great Britain1.1%11.2%25Lithuania0.5%21.7%26Switzerland0.4%2.5%27USA0.0%4.7%28Israel-0.2%-5.0%29Denmark-0.7%4.1%30Japan-0.7%-1.5%31Germany-5.2%-1.5%32Ireland-8.8%7.6%33Estonia-10.7%21.4%34Latvia-20.0%61.2%