An oversupply in the luxury market contributed to a fall in prices of 11%.
For a while this year, they benefited as crude oil prices dropped, while the fall in prices of retail gasoline was less rapid.
Some of the former Soviet states have joined the European Union, and their cheap labour and plentiful timber have contributed to a fall in prices of about 75% since their most recent peak a decade ago.
The fall in prices of holiday homes has been felt in all but the most chic areas, such as the Côte d'Azur, where Russian money keeps the market buoyant.
The minutes indicated that Fed officials saw a diminishing risk of deflation, a protracted fall in prices of the sort that has afflicted Japan for more than two decades.
Like the currencies of many commodity-exporting nations, South Africa's rand has declined sharply in recent months because of the worldwide fall in prices of raw materials and because of poor government policies.
"A fall in prices of gold in the recent months has been one of the reasons for the increased demand for gold in India," Jayant Sinha, minister of state for finance, told local media.
In Hong Kong, for example, large numbers of real estate agents are out of work and some experts are predicting a fall in prices of as much as 30percentt by summer from a year earlier.
