Australia Top 5 For House Price Growth

The Knight Frank Global House Price index for the September Quarter showed Australia in fifth place with 18.9% year on year growth — up from 16.4% in the June quarter.

At the end of June, Australia was in 7^th place on the index.

Turkey topped the list, recording a 35.5% jump in house prices year-on-year. It is followed by South Korea (26.4%), New Zealand (21.9%), Sweden (20.3%) and Australia.

The index, which tracks 56 countries and territories, pointed to global house prices rising with 96% of the markets recorded experiencing positive annual growth.

The value of an average home increased by 9.4% in the 12 months to the September quarter — last year saw a lift of 9.2%.

A total of 46% of the housing markets recorded achieved annual price growth of more than 10%.

Australia hadn’t been in the top 5 of the index since the end of 2015—before a clampdown on lending came in.

“As at Q3 2021, the Australian mainstream market has had eight quarters of uninterrupted positive annual growth, and the market continues to heat up as much desirable stock is in short supply and interest rates remain at historic lows,” said Shayne Harris, Knight Frank Australia head of residential.

“As we move into 2022, we expect Australians to be influenced by further restrictions on lending, an increase in house listings and different considerations about how they deploy their capital as international travel resumes and some elements of pre-Covid life return,” he said.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is selling his Northern California estate, which was listed Monday for $24.5 million.

Located in Atherton, an extremely affluent town northwest of Palo Alto and about 30 miles south of San Francisco, the 3.36-acre property is made up of three parcels that Schmidt acquired over the years, according to public records and Compass, who has the listing.

Schmidt, 69, and his wife, businesswoman Wendy Schmidt, purchased the main home in 1990 for $2 million, according to public records accessed via PropertyShark. They remodelled the 1969 home in 2007, and at that time, bought a neighbouring parcel of land, allowing an expansion of the main house and the addition of a guest house, according to Compass, who holds the listing. A third parcel was later acquired, on which the Schmidts added an English garden house and landscaped grounds overlooking the Eastern Hills.

“Finding three contiguous parcels in Atherton is rare. Even rarer are those with views of the Eastern hills,” said listing agent Katharine Carroll of the reSolve Group at Compass. “The location of this residence is ultra private, at the back of a cul-de-sac with the main house built into a hillside that provides privacy and very good security.”

Across the estate, there are five bedrooms, five full bathrooms and six half bathrooms.

The 5,265-square-foot main house also offers a number of private outdoor spaces on its upper level, including a large terrace off the primary suite, another large terrace off a secondary bedroom, plus a third smaller terrace and two balconies.

Behind the main house is a patio with a pool and spa. For even more outdoor space, there’s an entertaining pavilion, an open lawn and an outdoor fireplace area near the guest quarters.

The grounds themselves are also a standout feature, with an array of mature plants and specimen trees. The upper portion of the property’s landscaping is designed around an Amdega-designed conservatory, which was imported from the U.K. Around the greenhouse, there is a garden of raised beds and fruit trees, Carroll said.

“From the moment you step onto the grounds, it feels as if you’ve been transported to a private botanical sanctuary,” she said.

Schmidt served as Google’s CEO from 2001 to 2011, and then became the company’s executive chairman until 2015. He could not be reached for comment.

This article first appeared on Mansion Global

Australia Top 5 For House Price Growth

It’s the first time in six years the nation has ranked so highly.