A home in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Talbieh. Photo: wiki commons.

Israeli housing prices have increased by 54.5 percent since late 2006, the third-largest gain by any other country over the same period, the financial network CNBC reported Monday.

According to a newly released survey, the Israeli housing sector has experienced particularly rapid growth since 2009, “when house prices jumped more than 21 percent, followed by 16 percent growth in 2010.”

The survey, which looked at the average growth in housing prices between the fourth quarter of 2006 and the same period in 2011, is based on data recently released by Knight Frank, a private firm that monitors property values worldwide.

The U.S.-based network said Israel was one of the few countries whose economies saw impressive gains in the housing market, despite the “paltry 0.5 per cent” rise globally. Only China’s and Hong Kong’s real estate markets outperformed Israel during that period, with a 110.9 percent and 93.7 percent rise in housing prices, respectively.