The global property bubble
Forget equities, the real post-pandemic action has been in property. And not just in the UK – it is a worldwide phenomenon.

Forget equities, says Mike Bird in The Wall Street Journal. The real post-pandemic action has been in property. This “larger and slower-moving market” is still the place where most wealth is to be found. Even in America, a land of compulsive stockmarket investors, real-estate wealth amounts to $44,349 per adult, compared with $34,008 in stocks and bonds, according to Credit Suisse.
Property prices plunged globally after the 2007 financial crisis, but this time round banks are in “much ruder health” and more willing to lend. Prices are up in almost every wealthy country over the past year. In New Zealand they surged by 21.5% in the year to February.
It’s been a year since the housing market closed as the pandemic took hold, says Melissa Lawford in The Daily Telegraph. For a short period you could snap up multimillion-pound central London property at a 25% discount as sellers panicked. Yet by the summer the stamp-duty holiday was driving a new boom that has continued ever since. “Sales outpaced supply at the fastest rate in 14 years” in February, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
The “great reshuffling”
Global superstar cities such as London and New York were the big property winners of the past decade, says The Economist. No longer. Prices in Manhattan fell by 4% last year. In what US property website Zillow dubs the “great reshuffling”, prices are now rising fastest in suburbs within commuting distances of big cities but offering more space. If remote-working endures post-Covid-19, then that trend will not fully reverse. The pick-up has been broad-based: US house prices are up 11% over the last year; German prices rose by 9%. Across 25 rich countries “only in Japan” have prices retreated over the past 12 months.
Australia, the country where the property bubble never quite seems to pop, has been enjoying yet another boom, says Matthew Burgess on Bloomberg. A cocktail of low interest rates and housing undersupply saw prices advance by 2.8% in March, the biggest monthly gain since 1988. Prices are up by 6.2% on the year. Goldman Sachs thinks Australian property could rise by another 15% over the next two years as people seek more space to set up home offices.
Perhaps nowhere has the boom been more frenetic than in Canada, says Ian Austen in The New York Times. Exceptionally generous pandemic stimulus saw the country run a deficit of about 19% of GDP last year. Now house hunters have cash to splash. In Vancouver the price of a detached home surged by 13.7% in the year to February. In Toronto the equivalent index soared by 23.1% over the same period. Analysts wonder if this bubble is about to burst, and no wonder: a “rundown, one-car garage” in the city recently sold for C$729,000 (£419,000).
Sign up for MoneyWeek's newsletters
Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019.
Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere.
He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful.
Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.
-
‘I installed a heat pump in my home – here are five things I’ve learnt’
From the size and noise of a heat pump to how much it costs to run one, Ruth Emery reveals what she’s learnt after installing one in her home six months ago
-
3 ways to work out if a stock is good value
The only thing you can really control in investing is the price you pay for an asset – but how can you tell if you’re getting a good deal when it comes to the price of a stock?
-
Two ways to tap into monopoly profits from airports
Most investors can’t get their hands on airports. Here are two ways you can
-
Fat profits: should you invest in weight-loss drugs?
The latest weight-loss treatments could transform public health and the world economy. Should you invest?
-
How investors could profit from Ramsden Holdings' four-part growth strategy
Ramsdens Holdings offers a diversified set of financial and retail services and a juicy yield, says Dr Michael Tubbs
-
How to invest in the booming insurance market
The insurance sector is experiencing rapid growth after years of stagnation. Smart investors should buy in now, says Rupert Hargreaves
-
Out of America's shadow: Why Trump's tariff chaos may be good for non-US stocks
Opinion Upending global investment and trade could benefit other countries at the expense of the US market, says Cris Sholto Heaton
-
BP's 'long, painful decline' – and why next year could be even tougher
Opinion Long-suffering shareholders in oil giant BP have been pushing for change. It won’t come soon enough, says Matthew Lynn
-
Investment trusts tap the profits in exotic and obscure global markets
Opinion Peter Walls, manager of the Unicorn Mastertrust fund, highlights three investment trusts as he shares where he'd put his money
-
Falling revenues and mounting debt spell trouble for Jumia Technologies
Struggling African e-commerce platform Jumia Technologies looks headed for the exit, says Dr Matthew Partridge.