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The recent revival of the private rented sector in many regions highlights the importance of understanding the well-being of private renters. While there is a consensus that private renters are less satisfied with their life than homeowners, little attention has been given to examining the life satisfaction of private renters from different sub-sectors, nor has the underlying mechanism linking residential environment and life satisfaction been thoroughly investigated. The present paper aims to address these gaps by examining the life satisfaction of private renters from different sub-sectors in Shenzhen, China. We propose a model, based on Amérigo and Aragones' (1997) theoretical framework, that links residential environment, social exclusion, and life satisfaction. The model fits well with the data collected from 619 renters. The results showed that only 38% of the respondent private renters were satisfied with their life. Furthermore, we found urban village renters were significantly less satisfied with their life compared with renters living in commercial housing and Long-term Rented Apartments. Path analysis results suggest that some objective aspects of the residential environment, renters' perceived social exclusion, and their residential satisfaction could explain a substantial proportion of the variances in life satisfaction while the influence of demographic variables was found to be insignificant. Perceived equal citizenship rights, perceived discrimination, and perceived reasonable rent were shown to have significant effects on life satisfaction. The paper concludes with a discussion on policy implications aimed at enhancing the life satisfaction of private renters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Netherlands is not known for the occurrence of earthquakes. This is, however, a hot topic in the province of Groningen. Because of gas extraction, this area suffered from more than 1000 earthquakes. Most of them are not very intensive, but also bigger earthquakes of between 2 and 3 on the scale of Richter have been measured. In the last few years, thousands of houses are damaged, house prices have dropped, and the liveability is at stake. This paper pays attention to the effects of these earthquakes on the functioning of the housing market and the quality of life in the region. An extensive survey was conducted, focus groups were organized, housing market statistics were analyzed, and several econometric models were evaluated to give an answer to the question in which way the earthquakes influence the local housing market and the liveability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central proposition advanced in this paper is that differences in the structure of housing systems, and specifically the differences between dynamic and static housing systems, are crucial to an explanation of the varying impacts between countries of the international financial crisis. The proposition is illustrated with reference to Ireland, England, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The impacts on housing markets and housing policies are considered and it is shown that these are more significant in dynamic than in static systems. It is argued that whilst the classification of housing systems as dynamic and static adds an important new explanation for the varying impacts of the crisis, this is most usefully viewed as a complementary, rather than an alternative, perspective to other sets of explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to the special issueon putting comparative housing research intopractice elaborates on how and why internationalcomparative housing research should be conducted. Aclassification made by Oxley is used as a frameworkfor introducing the four contributions about thefinancial aspects of housing to this special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution depicts therecent development of the housing expenditure quotefor various income groups in the social and privaterented sector in six West European countries. Thedevelopment reflects the similar policy efforts inthese countries, not only to reduce the regulatoryand subsidizing role of government but also topromote market mechanisms within the housing system.The analysis shows a recent rise in the gross aswell as the net rent quote in both rental sectors ofthe six countries. The one exception is the privaterented sector in Belgium. Despite the application ofhousing allowances, the lower-income groups have hadthe biggest increase in net rent quote. In addition,all six countries have recently seen an increase inthe concentration of low-income groups in the socialrented sector, where their presence was alreadystrong. If this trend persists, it will affect theposition of the social rented sector, the sociallandlords, but especially the low-income groups inboth the private and the social rented sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the original publication of the article, Figure 2 was published with error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]