Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Aug 08, 2025

Going through the roof: what does 2022 have in store for global property prices?

The pandemic has transformed the global property market. In this episode of the Exchange, industry leaders offer their predictions for the $10 trillion sector in 2022.
Raising the roof


Lockdown, work-from-home, staycation - these are pandemic-era words we’ve all had to get used to. They’ve defined the way we live, work and travel, and have changed the dynamics of the real estate sector - one of the world’s biggest drivers of economic growth.

The global pandemic rebound is fuelling recovery in many segments of real estate. But uncertainty is still a big theme, as rising cases and new COVID variants threaten the return of movement restrictions.

Despite the uneven recovery, investments in real estate reached an all-time high in the third quarter, topping $755 billion, (670 euros), up 50 percent year-on-year.

And investors are keeping their portfolios diversified, with the residential sector now the most active segment ahead of offices, and driving 29 percent of transactional activity.

The post-COVID home


Behind the statistics and commercial figures the property market has always been profoundly affected by how people think and feel about design.

Interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has spent decades working at that intersection between design, architecture and culture. He says tastes are changing with the pandemic forcing us to rethink our relationship with our homes.

"...architecture is a very very ponderous art form and will take decades - you know, an architect having an idea now will unlikely see the fruits of that idea for five, six years. People feel that there are very comforting ways to decorate now, and there are personal ways to decorate now, they’re decorating for themselves suddenly, rather than decorating for the estate agent that’s going to come around and value it or the work colleague that’s going to come around for a bottle of wine. Actually, people are socialising less, people are staying at home, and they are staying at home in these very comfortable, comforting, very domestic environments," says Llewelyn-Bowen.

Paris property prices soar


During the COVID crisis, some feared for the real-estate market in Paris, which has been one of the world's most flourishing for decades. But prices are up again and prestige property is even booming: Both Sotherby's and Barnes say 2021 will be a record year in France. A positive prediction, but does it match the sentiment from buyers and sellers on the ground.

You might have met the Kretz family while watching TV during lockdowns. Their Netflix show called 'The Parisian Agency' tells their real story: that of a family business specialising in luxury real estate.

2021 has been a bumper year for the Kretz family who specialise in luxury real estate.


The founder of Kretz and Partners, Olivier Kretz, told the Exchange: "People are looking for apartments with space, with gardens, because they have suffered during the confinement. Big apartments without outdoors [space], prices went down or stabilised, and the others with outdoors, prices went up.

Valentin Kretz also believes more and more people want to realise their property dreams and put their plans into action.

"I think it's really a global trend. People during COVID had the time to think about their future project and now is the time to make this project happen.

He concludes by saying property remains one of the soundest investments: "Right now the investors and rich families want to invest, and they want to invest in a safe investment so what's better than real estate?"

Betting on property


So the pandemic has changed consumer trends, and how realtors are coping with the movement of people in big cities, but what’s the sentiment like for investors looking for bright spots to cash in on?

Sean Coghlan is the Global Director of Capital Markets Research at the real estate investment firm JLL in New York. He believes 2022 could offer many opportunities with sustainability and technology driving both design and innovation.

"We have entered this new era of living, working and playing, and we are still in that period of experimentation and there is still much to be determined, which creates opportunity. Sustainability is shifting from a nice to have to the only way forward. Technology, where groups have a lot of conviction, from an investor perspective, that could fit into a lot of different areas of the market. But I think it's a theme where you're going to see groups moving on opportunities in the markets next year."

So, Investors, designers and deal makers all agree that the property market appears to be weathering the COVID storm. But the pandemic, like climate change, has only just begun to reshape the sector and our society as a whole. Grasping psychology and culture is fast becoming as critical for developers as financial analysis. To win in 2022 then, property firms will need to adapt to a very different way of thinking about the spaces where we live and work.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
Explosions Rock Doha as Iranian Missiles Target Qatar
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
×