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.

Vancouver
The price of a detached home in Vancouver surged by 13.7% in the year to February
(Image credit: © Getty Images/iStockphoto)

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.

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Markets editor

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.