The index to end all indices - world's homes are worth $168.5 trillion

High-end agency Savills has produced a few notable house price figures in its time but its latest measure takes some beating - it says all of the world’s residential properties add up to some US$168.5 trillion.

Yolande Barnes, head of the agency’s world research team, says with some 2.05 billion homes worldwide, the average therefore costs around $82,000 - although most of the value is found in North America and Europe rather than distributed around the globe.

“North America contains only 7 per cent of the global population, but 22 per cent of all residential property assets by value. Similarly, Europe contains 11 per cent of the world’s peoples, but 23 per cent of residential property by value” says Barnes.

Residential accounts for some 75 per cent of the world’s property value, she says, with the prospect of more to come in the currently less-developed economies.

“Much of Asia has already seen real-estate asset price growth alongside the region’s rise of per-head GDP. But Africa appears to have the greatest potential yet for value growth as national economies and household incomes increase” says Barnes, who points out that the Middle East and Africa have 19 per cent of the world population but only six per cent of the residential property when measured by value.

It’s a fascinating blog and covers commercial property and the changing role of real estate as an asset class too. You can see the full blog here.