Does germany deserve to win? What we learned from the property world cup
Click here to see larger version - or here for an explanation of the figures.
Following our World Cup predictions, TheMoveChannel.com looks back at the football tournament versus the #TMCWorldCup...
The Tournament
The #TMCWorldCup kicked off on Wednesday 11th June, ahead of the actual event. Comparing housing markets for each competing team using five factors - including health (prices), demand (enquiries), appeal (Google searches) and accessibility (number of listings on TheMoveChannel.com) - the infographic picked the top two teams from each group and predicted the outcome of the knockout stages.
The aim was to provide broader exposure to housing markets that might otherwise be overlooked by investors, to determine whether countries such as Iran or Bosnia Herzegovina are worth investing in, as well as the world's best property market overall.
USA shot to the top of the chart, beating everyone from Brazil to France to take the title, fuelled by its booming overseas appeal, soaring house prices and high accessibility. England was close behind, its rising property values not quite matching America's staggering climb but offering more listings for sale to an active international audience.
The Final: Germany vs Argentina
The #TMCWorldCUp also followed the football tournament through every round to provide a more detailed examination of real estate markets, picking a match of the day to highlight.
Last night's final saw Germany take on Argentina in a much-anticipated football showdown. Head-to-head, though, the housing markets were far further apart.
Accessibility to each market was relatively even, with each offering 128 and 114 listings for sale respectively. Germany's price growth (5.8 per cent year-on-year in Q1 2014), though, highlights how reliable the country's real estate is compared to emerging Argentina, for whom no pricing data was available from Knight Frank. That reliability has bolstered its established reputation among investors, who searched for "property in Germany" on Google 325 times more than "property in Argentina" in May 2014. It is no surprise, then, that Germany property accounted for more activity in 2013 on TheMoveChannel.com: 1.83 per cent of enquiries versus 0.25 per cent.
Most-Watched Matches
England's defeat by Uruguay took in a peak of 20 million viewers in the UK, which the World Cup final matched. In the #TMCWorldCup, it was Argentina vs Netherlands that attracted the highest traffic - a 2-1 victory that gave a glimpse of the team the South Amercan country could be in four years' time - followed by Brazil vs Germany - a 3-2 victory that, much unlike the real life drubbing by the European champions, suggested Brazil were odds-on to take home the real estate trophy.
What Have We Learned from the 2014 World Cup?
Football does not always reflect real estate. The UK, USA and Brazil have all enjoyed successful years on TheMoveChannel.com, but failed to deliver on the football pitch. It is a finding that is far from a surprise, but the tournament has highlighted one aspect that sport and housing have in common.
Does Germany deserve to win the #TMCWorldCup? After a topsy-turvy football tournament full of surprise upsets and under-performing teams, the FIFA World Cup went to the most dependable team. Investors look for something similar when buying property abroad: a reliable product and market.
Brazilian property may have seen its enquiries soar 82 per cent year-on-year in May 2014, but Germany also saw its enquiries climb 40 per cent that month; a less attention-grabbing surge, but a more stable one. In a volatile global climate, the #TMCWorldCup was ultimately won by an established destination with consistency and stability. Germany deserved to win both the #TMCWorldCup and the FIFA World Cup - for the same reason.
Perhaps property and football are not so different after all.
Enquiries = % of enquiries received on TheMoveChannel.com in 2013
Searches = Number of searches for "property in X" on Google in the month leading up the World Cup
Listings = Number of properties currently listed for sale on TheMoveChannel.com
Price (12m/6m) = House price movement in the last 12 or 6 months, according to the Knight Frank Global House Price Index Q1 2014
Click here for the full statistics.