I don't have a set of comparative property crime stats in front of me at the moment, but for non-violent property crime, the US and many European countries DO have comparable rates. However, reliable it is hard to make cross-national comparisons of property crime rates because only about 40% of crime in the US even gets reported to the police. For some crimes (like murder) the rate of reporting is close to 100%. Auto theft is also usually reported because people want to make insurance claims. Additionally, not all property crime is non-violent. Robbery is a property crime, but because force (of the threat of force) is employed, it is considered a violent crime. The US has a FAR higher robbery rate than any European country. For example, in 1992, New Yorkers were robbed at 4X the rate of Londoners. That same year, 357 New Yorkers were killed in robberies, versus 5 Londoners.
The important thing is that the rate of incarceration is so much higher in the US. In 1996 the US incarceration rate was 615/100,000, the UK's was 100/100k, Germany's was 85/100k, Japan's was 37/100k. Only Russia's is slightly higher that America's, with 690/100k. Sentences given out in the US are also much more punitive for property, drug, and violent offenses than any western European nation. Conservative demagogs have been spreading the lie for years that our crime rates are so high because the American criminal justice system is "too soft" and lenient, and that the way to bring crime under control is to lock up more people for longer periods. According to this theory, the United States and Russia should be the safest countries in the World!