by Eric Hawthorn May 9, 2012

From CNBC.com. heres a list of the 10 Hottest Real Estate Markets. ranked by country:

10. Switzerland. 5-year price growth: 27.5 percent, thanks to ultra-low interest rates meant to curb the growth of their franc.

9. Malaysia . 5-year price growth: 28.5 percent. The government is looking to further capitalize on international investment by doubling the cost to enter their market.

7. (tie) Norway . 5-year price growth: 28.7 percent.

7. (tie) Canada . 5-year price growth: 28.7 percent. Unlike the U.S. Canada managed to avoid the housing market crash that figured so prominently in the 08 financial crisis.

6. Taiwan . 5-year price growth: 30.1 percent. Rapid urban growth has created extremely high real estate values, especially in Taipei.

5. Colombia . 5-year price growth: 39.4 percent. Though Colombia is the only South American country in this Top 10, Brazil, with its booming commercial development, is also extremely active.

4. Singapore.  5-year price growth: 50.5 percent. Thanks to the staggering growth of its real estate values, Singapore is now the most expensive market in Asia.

3. Israel.  5-year price growth: 54.5 percent.

2.  Hong Kong . 5-year price growth: 93.7 percent. Thanks to its importance in the investment and finance industries, Hong Kongs office market has become the most expensive in the world, overtaking London.

1. China . 5-year price growth: 110.9 percent.

With real estate values that have more than doubled in the last five years, China is a clear winner. Only recently an economic super power, Chinas real estate market has seen tremendous growth thanks to both a growing middle class with aspirations of home ownership and the deployment of capital from international, often-western investors.

We see a great deal of difference between CNBCs ranking, above, and those of AFIRE and Jones Lang LaSalle. which I published in the last couple weeks. Of course, the latter rankings are of cities, whereas this one is for entire nations. Further, CNBCs ranking measures 5-year market growth rather than simply present value, so were really getting a look at emerging markets (with some exceptions, like Switzerland, which has been a strong market for quite some time).

Still, there is certainly a correlation between urban and national markets. Well likely see many of these countries cities show up on the radar of international investors, and not just cities in China.