BIS Quarterly Review, June 2015

Global cross-border claims increased by $11.6 billion between end-September and end-December 2014 on an exchange rate-adjusted basis. Cross-border claims grew at a year-on-year rate of 5%, with lending to non-bank borrowers expanding faster (7%) than claims on banks (3%). Cross-border claims on China contracted by about $51 billion during the last quarter of 2014, which brought down their year-on-year growth rate to 21%. Outstanding cross-border claims on Chinese residents totalled $1 trillion at end-December 2014, making China the eighth largest borrower worldwide. More...

Real residential property prices continued to increase significantly in most of the advanced economies in 2014 (Graph A). They rose by 3-5% in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. They also continued to trend upwards in several European countries outside the euro area, increasing by around 10% in Sweden and the United Kingdom over one year, and more moderately in Denmark. The euro area saw a slight increase in aggregate, for the first time in seven years (by 1% year on year), although there remained important disparities across the member states. Real property prices grew by 4% in Germany, 2% in both Portugal and Spain, and a marked 16% in Ireland, albeit from subdued levels. On the other hand, price declines continued, especially in Greece (-4%) and, more moderately, in France and Italy. Contrasting with the above developments for major advanced regions, Japanese prices fell on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter, by 2%. More...