In Q2 2009, housing prices have increased in seven property markets of world

Turkey: property prices are on the rise, except for the elite market segment. U.S.:
sales of new homes increase. Bulgaria: the country will build more housing.
In Q2 2009, housing prices have increased in seven property markets of world, in comparison to Q1. The rise in prices has been registered in Israel, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Portugal, USA, Indonesia and New Zealand, the Global Property Guide reports.
The cost of actual property sales has soared in six major cities of Turkey, July-to-June. The largest monthly price increase (3.65%) has been observed in the province of Kocaeli. Experts attribute the rise in prices to the declination of bank interest rates. The country's central bank is expected to reduce rates even further this month, thus the prices could continue to increase.
A somewhat different situation is registered in Turkish luxury housing segment. Currently there are 250 thousand unsold elite properties in the country; 80 thousand of them are located in Istanbul. In order to attract buyers, developers are forced to make significant discounts, which sometimes reach 50-70%.
Home prices in England and Wales have increased by 1.7%, July-to-June, which has become the fastest increase of this index since July 2004. Over the same period, the volume of elite property sales has soared in London. The share of foreign buyers in London luxury property market segment accounts for more than 40% of all transactions.
According to the Central Bank of Malta, in Q1 2009 asking prices for homes on the island have declined by 4.4%, compared to the preceding quarter. The largest annual decrease (20.4%) has been registered in the segment apartments without finishing. However, the growth of annual prices has been observed in the segment of terraced houses.
New home sales in the U.S. have soared by 9.6%, July-to-June. The indicator is growing for the fourth consecutive month.
515 apartments have been sold on the primary housing market of Bucharest over the first half of 2009. For comparison: 3 000 transactions have been inked during the same period of the preceding year. In addition, primary housing prices have plummeted by 12% over the specified period.
In Q2 2009, 1,832 permits for residential construction have been granted in Bulgaria. This is 24.6% more than in the preceding quarter. Market experts point out that the developers have made a shift towards the construction of less spacious buildings.
The volume of transactions with Chinese commercial property has reached $31.2 billion in the first half of 2009. For comparison: the U.S. and U.K. commercial property sales over the specified period have totaled $16.2 billion and $13.7 billion, respectively. Global commercial property sales have amounted to $116.4 billion during the same period.
€861 million have been invested in Dutch commercial property in Q2 2009. This is twice more than during the preceding quarter. According to the experts, the increased demand is related to price correction, which has made many properties, especially business centers, more affordable for buyers.

P.S.
As it turned out, some things (or rather their absence) can successfully resist the downturn on the property market. This was proved by American nudists, who tend to settle close to each other, generally forming a nudist housing market of some sort. Most of the nudists are elderly people who do not require mortgages. They buy property for their savings. For this reason, the cost of housing in areas for nudists has been decreasing not as rapid as in the rest of the country. This "nudist" housing market of the United States has managed to withstand a global recession. Currently, its volume is estimated to work out $450 million - compared with $400 million five years earlier.
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