Social Housing Facing the Eu Law

This article delivers an overview on social rented housing in the member states of the European Union (EU). It explains the impact of EU Regulations on social housing policies in the individual member states. In this context, the article specifies potential instruments aimed at financing and subsidizing investments in social housing, thereby referring to the French system as an example. Although it is often felt by social housing landlords as uselessly inquisitive and backed by the lobbying o...

Housing Finance in Germany: A Stable Funding Scheme Model

This article deals with the housing finance model in Germany. The author believes that the global credit crunch will not affect the home loan offers in Germany. He attributes his perception to two main factors ie risk aversion and stability. Risk aversion is propelled by conservative underwriting standards and deposits as the main refinancing instrument for home ownership acquisition loans (ie loans remain on the lenders' balance sheets). In addition, he points out that German consumers prefe...

Editor's Introduction

Housing and Real Estate Bubbles: Thailand's Boom and Bust Cycles

This article looks at Thailand's booms and bust cycles. It provides a definition of a housing bubble and its potential causes and factors. It recommends using a number of specific indicators to discover a bubble. The article deals with Thailand's various housing bubbles and government's intervention to overcome the busts. Boom and bust cycles occur regularly in almost any free-market based property market. The 1996-1997 Thai property crisis provides many important lessons for developers, home...

Overview of Financial Systems for Slum Upgrading and Housing

In the author's overview on financial systems for slum upgrading and housing she perceives the predominance of informal activities in a society as problematic in many respects. On the one hand, it deprives governments of the tax base, which is necessary to the provision of public goods necessary to sustain the growth process. On the other hand, people in the informal economy, ie the poor, live outside the sphere of law and order. The article discusses two approaches to improve access to finan...

Housing and Housing Finance: A Social Challenge and Economic Opportunity

This article analyses the housing markets in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan from the perspective of price and affordability. After assessments of these four countries, the article looks at the challenges and opportunities these markets contain for lenders and market stakeholders such as insurance companies, the construction material industry, and others. The housing scenario in the South Asian countries brings to surface the issues which include: 1. These four countries represent...

Factors Affecting Borrowers' Choice of Housing Loan Package in Southwestern Nigeria

This article assesses the factors which affect the borrower's choice of a housing loan package in Nigeria. The article is based on a questionnaire distributed to 327 Nigerian households. The study shows that the three most significant factors are the interest rate (93.8%), the income of the borrower (90.5%) and the availability of a title document as collateral (83.7%). A major conclusion from this study is that the interest rate is the most significant factor that affects the borrower's choi...

Owning Up: What Price Home Ownership?

This article deals with a thesis by Hernando de Soto. By formalizing title, the poor could turn their assets into working capital. Thus, homeownership could solve the problem of poverty. The author however, does not follow this argument. His analysis shows that titles have not increased the likelihood of receiving credit from private sector banks or that banks are using property titles to secure loans in this context. The literature review and the Senegal and South Africa case studies all ind...