According to the property consultant's quarterly index, Malaysia registered a 5.1 per cent increase in home prices from the previous 12 months, while the 6-month and 3-month increases were 2.4 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.

However, Malaysia's residential sector remained on a downward trajectory, according to the property firm.

The index monitors the performance of mainstream residential markets in 55 countries across the world, 11 of which are from Asia-Pacific. Annual residential price growth slowed in six of the 11 markets tracked in Asia Pacific in the third quarter.

“Looking forward, expectations of rising interest rates in a number of markets will continue to lead to some downward pressure on pricing, although with regional economic growth remaining strong, underlying fundamentals in many markets remain robust," Nicholas Holt, Head of Research for Asia-Pacific, said of the latest index.

Although nearly nine in every 10 of the countries tracked by the index recorded positive annual price growths in the year to September 2017, almost half saw their rate of annual growth decline compared with the previous quarter.

Overall, the index increased by 5.1 per cent year-on-year compared with 6.3 per cent last quarter, the lowest since the start of 2016.

Singapore was 52nd place in the index, with home prices contracting by 0.3 per cent over the last 12 months.

The best performing markets in this quarter were Iceland and Hong Kong, which registered 12-month price increases of 20.4 per cent and 17.5 per cent, respectively.

The Knight Frank Global House Price Index was established in 2006 and prepared quarterly using official government data.