Tough times on the home front

A booming residential property market can do a great deal for national morale, and according to Knight Frank’s global residential cities index for the second quarter of 2017, the good citizens of Toronto have the most to smile about.

It’s Molsons all round, washed down with lashings of maple syrup, as the locals congratulate themselves on bricks and mortar having shot up by 29.3% year on year, a number that knocks the stuffing out of the equity markets and represents a proper boost to the city’s wallets.

Perhaps it’s no surprise, given the state of the local economy and the astonishing number of differences between Jacob Zuma and the sainted Justin Trudeau, that if you were to search for Johannesburg’s performance you’d do well to start at the other end of the list.

The City of Gold limps in at 146th of the 150 cities on the list, beating only Genoa, Valencia, Skopje and Aberdeen.

Knight Frank estimates that the value of your well-appointed Tuscan has dropped by 5.1% in the year, and that’s if you can find a buyer.

This is good news for anybody seeking to establish themselves on the property ladder or somebody looking for a cheeky upgrade, but exceptionally poor news for anybody who needs to sell, particularly if he or she is in a hurry.

It’s not hard to imagine why the demand side has fallen off a cliff — a cursory glance at a newspaper will give a hint — and there’s a lot to be said for having some of the world’s cheapest real estate. It’s just a shame if it gets cheaper by the day.