Any attempt to measure residential property price growth on a global scale is fraught with difficulty and subject to a large margin for error.

And the quarterly global property price index compiled by Knight Frank is no exception. As the report reveals, the most difficult element of the process of putting together the report is collating reliable data from many of the markets covered.

As such, the index cannot really claim to be comprehensive, or, in the case of many markets, without the possibility of some error.

What it does do, though, is give a broad brush picture of regional markets, where the data is weakest and sharply focused snapshots of those markets (like the UK, and US), that are well researched and recorded.

One of the main restrictions of the latest global index is that it measures only 30 markets - countries or major cities.