Taking the long view

Kate Everett-Allen looks back at the performance of the PIRI 100 over the past decade and more

Since 2010 marginal shifts, most of them up, have been the order of the day for prime prices. Annual price growth in the decade before Covid-19 was unspectacular but steady, averaging 1.6%.

The unexpected pandemic surge marked the biggest leap since the PIRI 100 began in 2008. Prime prices jumped an average 5.2% in 2022 and now sit 35% above their financial crisis low.

But markets have lost some of their prepandemic synchronicity. In 2019, 19 percentage points separated the strongest and weakest performers; in 2022, it was 68.

A more nuanced landscape is emerging as countries adopt different monetary policy strategies, introduce taxes or buyer restrictions and, in some cases, deal with the impact of protracted border closures.