Global Housing Rebound Loses Momentum, OECD Says: Chart of the Day

The housing market’s recovery from its collapse two years ago is flagging worldwide, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The CHART OF THE DAY depicts the percentage of OECD countries in which house prices climbed in real terms, adjusted for inflation, on a quarterly basis since 2000. The organization compiled the data, cited in a report today.

Homes became more costly in seven of 17 member countries surveyed in this year’s first quarter, the most recent period available. At 41 percent, the proportion dropped for the first time in six quarters. During the streak, it rose to 63 percent, based on figures for 19 OECD members.

Further weakness in home prices may limit growth in consumer spending globally, OECD Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan wrote in the report. Efforts to pay off household debt also may have that effect, he added.

The first-quarter price decline took place even though housing investment rose more broadly, according to the OECD’s statistics. Thirty-nine percent of the countries surveyed had increases, up from 33 percent in the previous two quarters.

This proportion hit bottom at 5.3 percent in the third quarter of 2008, when the corresponding figure for prices was only 11 percent. The latter number matched a low that was set two quarters earlier.

(To save a copy of the chart, click here.)

To contact the reporter on this story: David Wilson in New York at dwilson@bloomberg.net

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