US house prices 'recovering'

International house prices are starting to bottom out, property firm Knight Frank has said.

In its latest Global House Price Index, the firm noted that only 22 per cent of countries saw a faster decline in values in the second quarter of 2009 than the first three months.

Reflecting on this, head of residential research Liam Bailey said the figures "show values increased in almost half of the locations reporting price changes for the second quarter of the year".

The US was one market that had seen a distinct turnaround, Mr Bailey observed, with a 1.3 per cent rise in the three months to June following seven per cent declines in each of the previous two quarters.

Such findings are consistent with other surveys showing a recent rise in US house prices.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices published last month indicated a 1.4 per cent jump in values from May to June this year.

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