Housing prices have been soaring across major countries worldwide mainly due to the aftermath of quantitative easing to support their economies, data showed Wednesday.

According to the Bank for International Settlements, housing prices around the world in the first quarter of 2015 were similar to that of the fourth quarter in 2006, before the global financial recession.

Hong Kong, Sweden and Norway had the fastest housing price increases compared to the last quarter of 2006, with the index in Hong Kong increasing by 220.6 percent, Sweden by 64.2 percent and Norway 57.2 percent.

Korea saw a 25.1 percent increase in housing prices, ranking 10th out of 26 countries.

Experts suggest that Korea’s housing prices were more affected by domestic policies than overseas ones, such as the government’s real estate policies and the decrease of “jeonse” apartments.