Owner-Occupied Housing in Europe: Postwar Developments and Current Dilemmas

1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 605-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Martens

Owner-occupation has become a major tenure form in Western Europe. Yet, relatively little is known about the way owner-occupation is provided, since most studies tend to concentrate only on the effects of different forms of state support for the tenure. This survey examines owner-occupied housing markets in five European countries, Britain, France, West Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Their housing markets vary substantially, but differences are especially marked between Britain and the rest of Europe. Differences in owner-occupied housing markets between these countries arise in the timing of the expansion of owner-occupation; in the relation between the building industry and dominant forms of housing promotion; in the roles played by the market for secondhand housing and in the importance of mortgage finance. One common characteristic of all these countries, however, has been the appearance of house-price inflation during the 1970s. The rising long-term trend of house prices has been punctuated by periodic booms and slumps. Market instability has helped to cause the major crises of housing production that exist in all countries. The survey concludes by indicating the dilemmas under the current structures of provision for state policies aimed at expanding owner-occupation.

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 539-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petros Stavrou Sivitanides

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to validate and quantify the effect of key macroeconomic drivers on London house prices using annual data over the period 1983–2016. Design/methodology/approach Within this context, the authors estimate alternative error-correction and partial-adjustment models (PAMs), which have been widely used in the empirical literature in modelling the slow adjustments of house prices to demand and supply shocks. Findings The results verify the existence of a strong long-term relationship between London house prices and key macroeconomic variables, such as UK GDP, London population and housing completions. A key finding of the study relevant to the debate on the causes of the housing affordability crisis is that the results provide little evidence in support of the argument that user demand, which is captured in the author’s model by Greater London population, may have had a diminished role in driving house price inflation in London. Practical implications The practical and policy implications of the results are that increased homebuilding activity in London will undoubtedly help limit house price increases. Also, any potential reduction of immigration and economic growth due to Brexit will also have a similar effect. Originality/value The originality of this research lies in the use of annual data that may better capture the long-term effect of macroeconomic drivers on house prices and the estimation of such effects through both error-correction and partial-adjustment models.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2198894
Author(s):  
Peter Phibbs ◽  
Nicole Gurran

On the world stage, Australian cities have been punching above their weight in global indexes of housing prices, sparking heated debates about the causes of and remedies for, sustained house price inflation. This paper examines the evidence base underpinning such debates, and the policy claims made by key commentators and stakeholders. With reference to the wider context of Australia’s housing market over a 20 year period, as well as an in depth analysis of a research paper by Australia’s central Reserve Bank, we show how economic theories commonly position land use planning as a primary driver of new supply constraints but overlook other explanations for housing market behavior. In doing so, we offer an alternative understanding of urban housing markets and land use planning interventions as a basis for more effective policy intervention in Australian and other world cities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 289-301
Author(s):  
Jan R. Kim ◽  
Gieyoung Lim

The steep rise in German house prices in recent years raises the question of whether a speculative bubble has already emerged. Using a modified present-value model, we estimate the size of speculative house price bubbles in the German housing market. We do not find evidence for positive bubble accumulation in recent years, and interpret the current bullish run as reflecting the correction of house prices that have been undervalued for more than 10 years. With house prices close to their fair values as of 2018:Q1, our answer to the question is, ‘Not yet, but it is likely soon’.


1981 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1109-1124 ◽  
Author(s):  
M C Fleming ◽  
J G Nellis

A survey is made of all official and unofficial sources of statistics on house prices in the UK. This is followed by a critical appraisal of the evidence they provide about national and regional price levels and about house price inflation. Attention is focused on two crucial factors: the representativeness of the data and the heterogeneity of houses. It is concluded that incomplete coverage of all house transactions means that most series tend to overstate price levels and that intertemporal and interregional comparisons are sensitive to the composition by type of houses traded.


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (24) ◽  
pp. 1550181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Meng ◽  
Wen-Jie Xie ◽  
Wei-Xing Zhou

The latest global financial tsunami and its follow-up global economic recession has uncovered the crucial impact of housing markets on financial and economic systems. The Chinese stock market experienced a marked fall during the global financial tsunami and China’s economy has also slowed down by about 2%–3% when measured in GDP. Nevertheless, the housing markets in diverse Chinese cities seemed to continue the almost nonstop mania for more than 10 years. However, the structure and dynamics of the Chinese housing market are less studied. Here, we perform an extensive study of the Chinese housing market by analyzing 10 representative key cities based on both linear and nonlinear econophysical and econometric methods. We identify a common collective driving force which accounts for 96.5% of the house price growth, indicating very high systemic risk in the Chinese housing market. The 10 key cities can be categorized into clubs and the house prices of the cities in the same club exhibit an evident convergence. These findings from different methods are basically consistent with each other. The identified city clubs are also consistent with the conventional classification of city tiers. The house prices of the first-tier cities grow the fastest and those of the third- and fourth-tier cities rise the slowest, which illustrates the possible presence of a ripple effect in the diffusion of house prices among different cities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alper Ozun ◽  
Hasan Murat Ertugrul ◽  
Yener Coskun

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce an empirical model for house price spillovers between real estate markets. The model is presented by using data from the US-UK and London-New York housing markets over a period of 1975Q1-2016Q1 by employing both static and dynamic methodologies. Design/methodology/approach The research analyzes long-run static and dynamic spillover elasticity coefficients by employing three methods, namely, autoregressive distributed lag, the fully modified ordinary least square and dynamic ordinary least squares estimator under a Kalman filter approach. The empirical method also investigates dynamic correlation between the house prices by employing the dynamic control correlation method. Findings The paper shows how a dynamic spillover pricing analysis can be applied between real estate markets. On the empirical side, the results show that country-level causality in housing prices is running from the USA to UK, whereas city-level causality is running from London to New York. The model outcomes suggest that real estate portfolios involving US and UK assets require a dynamic risk management approach. Research limitations/implications One of the findings is that the dynamic conditional correlation between the US and the UK housing prices is broken during the crisis period. The paper does not discuss the reasons for that break, which requires further empirical tests by applying Markov switching regime shifts. The timing of the causality between the house prices is not empirically tested. It can be examined empirically by applying methods such as wavelets. Practical implications The authors observed a unidirectional causality from London to New York house prices, which is opposite to the aggregate country-level causality direction. This supports London’s specific power in the real estate markets. London has a leading role in the global urban economies residential housing markets and the behavior of its housing prices has a statistically significant causality impact on the house prices of New York City. Social implications The house price co-integration observed in this research at both country and city levels should be interpreted as a continuity of real estate and financial integration in practice. Originality/value The paper is the first research which applies a dynamic spillover analysis to examine the causality between housing prices in real estate markets. It also provides a long-term empirical evidence for a dynamic causal relationship for the global housing markets.


Subject The rise in global house prices. Significance In the first quarter of 2015, the global house price index, aggregating prices in 52 countries, was at about the same level as in early 2007, according to IMF data. This recovery has occurred in a period of wage gains in most emerging markets (EMs), but little or no growth in household income across most advanced economies. Living costs excluding housing have stagnated and interest rates have been exceptionally low. Yet US interest rates are rising now and global prices are unlikely to keep falling beyond 2016, while many EMs have slumped into recession. As households are hit by more adverse trends, property markets and the related sectors will be affected. Impacts The EM house price boom will be curbed by slowing income growth and weaker economic prospects. High house-prices-to-household-income ratios and household debt might require the introduction of macroprudential tools. The US housing market will stay affordable compared to its long-term average and to Europe's.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-270
Author(s):  
Arvydas Jadevicius ◽  
Peter van Gool

Purpose This study is a practice undertaking examining three main concerns that currently dominate Dutch housing market debate: how long is the cycle, will the current house price inflation continue and is housing market in a bubble. With national house prices reaching record highs across all major cities, future market prospects became a topic of significant debate among policymakers, investors and the populace. Design/methodology/approach A triangulation of well-established academic methods is used to perform investigation. The models include Hodrick-Prescott (HP) filter, volatility autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH approximation) and right tail augmented Dickey–Fuller (Rtadf) test (bubble screening technique). Findings Interestingly, over the years from 1985 to 2019 research period, filtering extracts only one Dutch national housing cycle. This is a somewhat distinct characteristic compared to other advanced Western economies (inter alia the UK and the USA) where markets tend to experience 8- to 10-year gyrations. Volatility and Rtadf test suggest that current house prices in most Dutch cities are in excess of historical averages and statistical thresholds. House price levels in Almere, Amsterdam, The Hague, Groningen, Rotterdam and Utrecht are of particular concern. Originality/value Retail investors should therefore be cautious as they are entering the market at the time of elevated housing values. For institutional investors, those investing in long-term, housing in key Dutch metropolitan areas, even if values decline, is still an attractive investment conduit.


Significance The government in New Zealand, where the market is particularly buoyant, was the first to react in February. It now requires the Reserve Bank to consider house prices when setting monetary policy. Other governments and central banks have shown little sign of following suit. Impacts Calls are rising for the US Federal Reserve to taper its purchases of mortgage-backed securities, but it will remain cautious. Rising financial stability risks and house price booms increase the risk of insolvency for borrowers and non-performing-loans for banks. Higher house prices add indirectly to consumer price inflation if they push up rents, but this link takes time to materialise.


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