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The growth in residential real estate investment internationally since 2008 has led to an explosion of research on residential investment, across economics, sociology, housing and urban studies, geography and planning. But there remains an underlying question of what exactly is meant when we talk about 'residential investment'. This paper analyses the way that 'residential investment' is used as an analytical category within different theoretical approaches to mean slightly different things, with different implications for policymakers. Further to this, we show how these different conceptualisations of investment are related to one another, in the case of the UK. The paper uses empirical material drawn from archive research on the development of the UK housing system to reflect on the vast literature on financing, financialising and investing in residential real estate. This paper makes two key contributions. Theoretically, it clarifies and questions the conceptual divisions created between different forms of residential investment. Methodologically, we demonstrate the benefits of a historical approach, which we argue reveals the path dependent nature of residential investment processes and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persisting housing challenges in Africa's cities are often theorized as driven by rapid demographic expansion outstripping housing supply or by the urbanization of poverty which puts the cost of adequate and serviced housing beyond the reach of many urban dwellers. This theorization links the problem of inadequate supply and low quality of housing to ahistorical, apolitical factors such as the size and income/poverty characteristics of Africa's urban population and ignores legacies of elite capture and multi-dimensional exclusions reflected in policies and practices. Yet these policies and practices shape urban governance and who gains access to land, housing finance and ultimately serviced housing and neighborhoods. Drawing on a review of policies, media sources and literature on housing in Ghana and taking a critical postcolonial institutional theoretic approach, we argue that a more complete conceptualization of Africa's urban housing crises should involve a close look at the regressive historical patterns of urban investments and persisting elite biases in institutions managing land, finance and housing. This re-framing of housing problems creates a more holistic framework and better articulates the unjust foundations of regressive and exclusionary policies and practices. Further, it highlights elite capture and multi-dimensional exclusions that perpetuate current housing and service failure in African cities. An explicit focus on power, exclusion and injustice is necessary to formulate and advocate alternative policies that are more likely to produce inclusive livable housing and neighborhoods. These include moratoriums on evictions, expanded slum upgrading, progressive property and land taxation, more inclusive planning systems, better regulation of rental housing and improved delivery of land and finance for transit oriented affordable public and rental housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic analysis of the field of housing construction indicates a certain specificity of its functioning in Ukraine, which is primarily related to the lack of opportunities for developers to invest their own resources in this construction and the need to attract financing at the early stages of the construction of residential real estate objects. The results of the empirical analysis of the dynamics of housing construction financing indicate that the main source of this financing is public funds (from 55% to more than 73% of the total volume of housing construction investments, depending on the year of their implementation). The insufficient level of quantitative and qualitative provision of housing for Ukrainian citizens provokes a constant demand for residential real estate objects, which in turn stimulates the development of housing construction. An analysis of the dynamics of residential real estate commissioning volumes and the amount of capital investments in residential buildings indicates a steady growth of these indicators over the past 10 years, with the exception of the crisis years of 2014 and 2020, in which there was a general decline in the national economy (2014) or even the global (2020) economy, caused by extraordinary circumstances (the Revolution of Dignity and the coronavirus epidemic). However, in subsequent years after these crises, the amount of capital investment in residential construction continued to grow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's current real estate market transactions are relatively subdued; hence, finding means to repower the engine for further development becomes vital. However, few studies investigated the relationships between family non-economic factors, assets, and housing debt. This study highlights the impact of family members' health, insurance, and social capital's impact on housing debt and assets. The family-size data from the China House Finance Survey are analyzed using a partial least squares structural equation model. The results indicate that family members' poor health and uninsured endowment insurance individuals negatively affect housing debt and family assets. In contrast, the impact of medical insurance is insignificant. Besides, social capital substantially and positively impacts assets and debts. The labor supply and the proportion of kids have a negligible impact. Hence, this study recommends that loan-offering enterprises may change their marketing targets according to family situations, such as health status and insurance coverage. The government might promote endowment insurance and strengthen higher education to revitalize the real estate industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWhen skyrocketing house prices worsen housing affordability, parental financial support is suggested to be more important and prevalent in young people’s housing transition. However, little is known about young people’s perceptions and responses to it, particularly when they struggle among different sets of conflicting norms – the values of self-reliance, deep-seated home ownership preference, and marriage and gender expectations. Based on in-depth interviews with 50 highly educated young people aged 25–34 in Hong Kong, this study found that many young people were torn between the housing ideal – achieving home ownership by themselves – and economic realities. They did not necessarily welcome their parents’ home financing while many struggled to establish their financial responsibility even when they agreed to accept parents’ money. Some explicitly rejected parents’ assistance due to different concerns, such as preserving decision-making power. Gender and marriage norms also shape parents-of-daughters’ financing and young men’s acceptance. Young people’s attempts to carefully delineate financing responsibility in own housing projects (e.g. an outright rejection of parents’ money) may impede parents’ accumulating reciprocal support resources and shape intergenerational relationships in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing markets display several correlations to multiple economic sectors of an economy. Their enormous impact on economies' health, wealth, and stability is uncontroversial. Interestingly, the forms of financing residential property vary widely between the different countries in terms of both, the available product types and the institutions offering them. This research examines the implications of different financial intermediaries on housing market cycles with special emphasis on two institutional types, conventional banks and building and loan associations. Introducing a heterogeneous agent-based model, the interactions of buyers, sellers, and the two types of credit institutions are assessed. Heterogeneous economic principles and expectations of agents create endogenous market conditions which are strongly influenced by the lending practices of financial intermediaries. Focusing primarily on collateral values to decide about lending, conventional banks may contribute to volatile housing markets which are prone to recessions. Building and loan associations, on the other hand, rely to a greater extent on endogenously created borrower information. Thus, they are able to cushion the volatility of house prices caused by procyclical mortgage lending of conventional banks and increase the stability of the housing market. Simulations show that the most stable market conditions are attained if both types of financial intermediaries serve the mortgage lending market jointly. Furthermore, transaction and homeownership rates are the highest in this market setting. These findings advocate in favor of diversified financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report provides an overview of the 17th meeting of the Australasian Urban History/Planning History Group, held on Gadigal Country at the University of Sydney from 11 to 13 July 2024. The 2024 conference welcomed papers on diverse topics, but particularly encouraged contributions relating to possession and dispossession, housing histories and FIRE (Fire, Insurance, Real Estate). Over 60 papers were presented. The use of real estate, and the delineation of property as a tool of dispossession was a theme that ran through many of the papers, as was the unbuilt theme, which serendipitously threaded through presentations focused on many different cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries of the world, the problems related to housing, which is one of the basic needs of people, have not been fully solved. In Turkey, different problems arise in the housing production and marketing process. The aim of this study is to categorize and discuss the types of problems encountered in the housing production and marketing process in Turkey within the framework of the relevant literature. Within this framework, secondary data were analyzed and concepts and terms related to these problems were explained. In this way, the research has an exploratory characteristic. As a result of the secondary data analysis of the research, it is understood that housing production is faced with problems arising from land supply, increases in construction material costs and local governments as well as financial problems. Another important finding emerging from the data analysis is that housing developers are inadequate in using marketing automation and digital techniques in their advertising efforts. It is evaluated that the results will be useful in the correct decision-making processes of those who supply and demand housing, give readers the opportunity to reason, help them to satisfy and motivate them, and guide future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Secuencia: Revista de Historia y Ciencias Sociales is the property of Instituto de Investigaciones - Dr. Jose M. Luis Mora and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We provide new evidence that mispriced mortgage insurance shifted credit supply and contributed to the mortgage boom and bust of the early 2000s. Original data on private mortgage insurance premiums from 1999 to 2016 reveal that before 2008, premiums did not vary across loans with widely different indicators of default risk. We quantify the mispricing of premiums before 2008 and show that even allowing for more optimistic beliefs, the flat premium structure resulted in cross‐subsidies and substantial adverse selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate housing finance strategies for the provision of staff housing in Nigerian Federal Universities. The aim is to investigate and analyze the effective and accessible housing finance strategies for provision of staff housing in Nigerian Federal Universities especially in the Southeast. Design/methodology/approach: A review of related literature identified various housing financing strategies. A well-structured research questionnaire relevant to required variables was developed and administered to staff of the various institutions under study using convenience and Purposeful sampling techniques through physical delivery and electronically (Google form). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, and mean) the Pearson correlation coefficient and the t-test of significance of the correlation coefficient were also used for the analysis. Findings: The data analysis showed that the provision of staff housing has strong positive correlation with efficient and accessible financing strategies. The provision of staff housing is dependent on the efficiency and accessibility of available financing strategies. Existence of large undeveloped land and high credibility to access the finance are the major finance eligibility criteria for any university while revealing the Public Private Partnership as the best financing option. Practical implications: The study could form the basis of policy document and decision for the university management. Can be a reference point to housing finance institutions, development agencies and other property providers on the best strategies that will be beneficial to them and the public universities according to their peculiarities. It serves as an added knowledge to researchers and students in the field of housing finance and housing development regarding the best options capable of achieving a credible staff housing delivery. Originality/value: Discussions on financing strategies for staff housing especially as it affects the universities have not received much scholarly attention, this study offers an expository knowledge and recommendation expected to be utilized by the management in providing efficient financing for staff housing. It also established that staff unions, Cooperative Societies, Public-Private Partnership Options, National Housing Fund (NHF), Grants and subvention, Pension Commission Loans can be effectively harnessed to provide efficient financing for staff housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author responds to commentaries about his book "The Commodification Gap: Gentrification and Public Policy in London, Berlin and St. Petersburg." He examines several features of the commentaries, such as preserving or overcoming gentrification as a concept, the status of the commodification gap as a concept and as a tool for empirical research, as well as the impact of housing financialization. He discusses the significance of the commentaries to urban studies.

The housing business continues to grow along with the increasing need for the fulfillment of housing. This research delves into the application of mushārakah mutanāqiṣah in housing finance within Indonesia and Malaysia, scrutinizing their regulations and relevant governing institutions. Employing a normative legal approach, it explores legal principles, systematics, synchronization, and historical context about this financing method. Employing inductive, deductive, and comparative methods, it analyzes regulations and practices in both countries. By offering insights into the potential and challenges of implementing mushārakah mutanāqiṣah in housing finance, the study aims to provide recommendations for regulatory enhancements, fatwa institutions, product development, and adherence to sharī’ah principles. This research is crucial for deepening understanding and facilitating improvements in various sectors related to housing finance within the context of Islamic finance in Indonesia and Malaysia.

The literature on East Asian developmental states has mostly focused on economic policies; few studies have investigated how developmentalism affects urbanisation. This study addresses this gap by analysing the formation of a housing system by the developmental state and the role of the housing sector in the transition from an economic miracle in the 1960s to stagnation after the 1990s. Wang, Lee, and Chen (2017) argued that Taiwan’s state bureaucrats played a gradually diminishing role in directing the market. This article takes a different approach by arguing that the government’s interventions on housing intensified after the 1990s; housing finance sectors were formalised, squatters were removed, and interventions based on market mechanisms were employed to stimulate the housing market. However, the lack of an effective state intervention on housing made speculation difficult to control and created an obstacle to economic development. Such housing speculation increased social inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey, under the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP), has launched large-scale national housing programmes in line with the emerging international trend in low-income housing provision. This paper analyses the place of the government's housing programmes in economic policy and in the international context to illustrate the overall picture of the Turkish housing policy in the AKP era. Housing programmes have enabled low and middle-income people to access homeownership. However, other areas of housing policy such as land provision, taxes, subsidies, or housing finance have ignored the housing needs of low-income households. The case of Turkey reveals that the area on which the government should focus for low-income housing provision is access to affordable finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social movements can seek to challenge the variety of housing financialisation processes in different ways. Focussing on the case of the Habita association, we examine strategies to contest housing financialisation, which has unfolded through different spatiotemporal dynamics fostered by the State, as well as outcomes of this social mobilisation in Portugal. We emphasise the importance of mixing 'invited' strategies with 'ínvented' strategies, highlighting, simultaneously, the significance of the economic and political context as the stage where the struggles and their opportunities develop. Success is always situated within a context. In this sense, the focus on the reputational pressure of some actors of the state is identified as a way of obtaining results under certain conditions. Our analysis shows that despite facing an enormous imbalance of power concerning actors promoting housing financialisation, housing movements can be important mobilisers and question the dominant paths, interfering with state policies and financialisation processes and showcasing the need for and possibility of building alternatives to the financialisation and commodification of housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spain was one of the most severely hit countries by the 2008 global financial crisis. More than ten years after, the belated economic recovery has hardly changed the roots of that crisis, especially the financialization of the real estate sector. Remarkably, from 2009 to the present, several grassroots struggles have questioned those roots and demanded solutions to the affordability housing crisis. In this study, we examine two salient cases: the campaign against the Bankia bank and opposition to the international investment fund Blackstone. Both firms forced thousands of home evictions upon financially broken homeowners and tenants, respectively, the latter doing so via sharp rent increases. Here we investigate the claims, protest repertoires and achievements of these housing struggles. Our analysis shows that every type of grassroots' response was shaped by a distinct process of capital accumulation through the financialization of housing. The first was driven mainly by austerity policies and the second by state-led actions to reignite housing speculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assets are insured, because they are likely to be destroyed or made non-functional, through an accidental occurrence. Such possible occurrences are called perils. Fire, floods, breakdowns, lightning, earthquakes, etc, are perils. A possibility of loss or damage. It may or may not happen. There must be uncertainty about the risk. Insurance is done against the contingency that it may happen. People/Assets must be exposed to the same risks. Risk is spread among the community and the likely big impact on one is reduced to smaller manageable impacts on all. Collect money in advance and create a fund from which the losses are paid. A human life is also an income generating asset. This asset also can be lost through unexpectedly early death -- Accidents may or may not happen. Living too long can be as much of a problem as dying too young. These are risks which need to be safeguarded against. Insurance covers economic or financial losses -- tangible and intangible assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies of goal setting in later life tend to focus on health-related goal setting, are pre-determined by the researcher (i.e., tick box), and/or are focused on a specific geographical area (i.e., one country). This study sought to understand broader, long-term goals from the perspective of older adults (65 + years) from Australia, New Zealand (NZ), United Kingdom (UK), Ireland, Canada, and the United States of America (USA). Methods: Through a cross-sectional, online survey (N = 1,551), this exploratory study examined the qualitative goal content of older adults. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data, and bivariate analyses were used to compare thematic differences between regions and by participants' sex. Results: Over 60% of the participants reported setting goals, and participants from the Australia-NZ and Canada-USA regions were more likely to set goals than the UK-Ireland region. The following six overarching themes were identified from the 946 goals reported: health and well-being; social connections and engagement; activities and experiences; finance and employment; home and lifestyle; and attitude to life. Conclusions: This study supports previous research that demonstrates that older adults can and do set personal goals that are wide ranging. These findings support the need for health professionals to consider different methods for elucidating this important information from older adults that builds rapport and focuses on aspects viewed as more important by the older adult and therefore potentially produces improved health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2009 the San José macro-project was formulated in Manizales (Colombia) to renew 111 hectares of urban fabric in the central area of the city. In a decade it was intended to provide more than 3,500 social housing units and develop a mixed-use area. Fourteen years later, only 6% of the project has been developed and the public resources committed have been exhausted. This article evaluates this project based on the trialectic analysis of the production of space suggested by Bourdieu and other authors, adapted to the realities of social housing policy in Colombia. Three variables of analysis were defined: Norms, Space and Rights. The integration of these variables made it possible to unveil the habitus of the decision makers in the planning-management of the project. The hermeneutic analysis of the transformations produced in space-time makes it possible to demonstrate that the urban operation is oriented towards dismantling the democratic instruments of social housing financing through a normative turn that prioritizes the measures of exception to avoid the equitable distribution of burdens and benefits. There is a tension between the integral urban actions foreseen in the national territorial planning and the general urban project rescued from the practices of nineteenth-century urbanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ongoing question in capability research is how to incorporate the value of freedom into the measurement of inequality. This article proposes an approach to answering this question in the housing domain and its operationalisation. The approach places an evaluation focus to the conditions constraining or expanding housing choices in the dimensions of opportunity, security, and ability. For operationalisation, the study designed a measurement of multidimensional housing disadvantages (MHDs) using the Alkire-Foster method and data from the Netherlands. Indicators include the entitlement to housing tenure options, vulnerability in housing cost payments, and ability to plan finance for housing. The measurement outcome demonstrates that the MHDs measurement can provide information on whose housing choices are more intensely constrained, thus having a lower capability for housing, and whose current housing situation is likely a result of coerced choices. The findings indicate that adults living with housemates or family (latent households), youths, and those with precarious jobs have a significantly lower capability for housing compared to other population groups. This article also compares the freedom-oriented measure of MHDs with functioning-oriented and other conventional measures and discusses its distinguishing properties. This comparison suggests a need to revisit current policy priorities in addressing housing inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing housing literature in the Global south suggests housing development processes are linear and do not appear to incorporate unexpected events such as land conflicts, which cause destructions, stoppages, and setbacks to housing development. This paper argues that the nexus between land conflicts and housing development can best be conceptualised as fragile and compromised housing. This concept draws attention to the highly violent politics of land and its impact on the housing process, the housing product, and the well-being of the housebuilder. Using evidence from peri-urban Accra and drawing on interviews, the study unpacks the lived experiences of individual housebuilders in navigating through land conflicts to build. The study found that the impact of land conflicts on housing development manifests in complex ways including multiple financial commitments, capital lockdown, cyclical building, compromised housing, and compromised wellbeing. Arguably, these findings highlight the contemporary perspectives to understanding incremental and piecemeal housing in peri-urban Accra and by extension, the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By allowing different agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to be traded based on limited characteristics, the to-be-announced (TBA) market generates liquidity and benefits the MBS market broadly. We quantify effects of the TBA structure on mortgage borrowers. Exploiting discontinuities in TBA eligibility, we estimate that TBA eligibility reduces mortgage rates by 7 to 28 basis points. The TBA eligibility benefit is larger for mortgages with higher expected prepayments. We also find that TBA eligibility affects refinancing, which has implications for monetary policy transmission. Our finding is relevant for housing policies, such as housing finance reforms and uniform MBS. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix , which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamic Easy House Financing (IEHF) increased from RS. 6.8 billion to RS 23.3 billion over 10 years. Identifying the factors that affect the satisfaction of both Muslim and non-Muslim clients with Islamic Easy House Financing (IEHF) is significant. This research then considers the major variables that impact Pakistan's choice of Islamic Easy House Finance (IEHF). Questionnaires were distributed to 160 employees of Meezan Islamic Bank. The current study employed a testing strategy called random sampling. The questionnaire was divided into two segments. One segment included data about the segments, while the other segment focused on the factors that influence how Muslims finance their Islamic Easy House (IEHF). The results demonstrate that several significant variables impact the choice of Islamic Easy House Financing (IEHF), including circumstances, management quality, integrity, prominence in the media, and social impact. The most reliable indication is reputation, as most customers feel comfortable choosing Islamic Easy House Finance (IEHF) because Islamic Meezan Bank has a strong reputation and vision. The study needs to be completely structured. The focus also refers to representatives of a single financial institution. Future research may involve personnel from various Islamic financial institutions. Policymakers and directors could use the tests suggested in the current study as a guide for enhancing Islamic Meezan Bank products and services. There will be an article published on Pakistan's Meezan Islamic Bank as part of the study. This research is the first to examine Pakistan's easy-house-choice Shari'ah laws. For experts and scholars concerned about advancements in Pakistan's Meezan Islamic Bank's banking sector, the findings made throughout this research process will be of the utmost importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The financialization of households complicates how we compare housing systems and welfare states. This article explores the shifting relationships between wealth inequality, welfare states and household risk, focussing on the roles of housing and mortgage markets. We show national regimes of capitalism continue to shape experiences of risk, but increasingly through asset-based welfare mechanisms, centred on housing ownership, that are inadequately captured in existing comparative literature. Using OECD data, our argument is developed in two steps. First, we demonstrate that national patterns of wealth inequality do not follow classical welfare state categories, but mean wealth levels do, suggesting a distinct structural relationship. Second, we connect wealth inequality to the risks of housing ownership and household debt, focussing on house price falls in the United States, Italy and Denmark following the 2007–2008 financial crisis. We find mortgage default rates reflect welfare state categories rather than measures of financial risk, revealing an emerging 'hybrid' role of social insurance in supporting household liquidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What role do domestic institutional and structural factors play in the emergence of national macroprudential regimes? So far, the literature on macroprudential policy has mainly focused on transnational processes of knowledge production. We therefore still know very little about what causes the observed differences in macroprudential regimes at a country level. The paper addresses this issue by way of an examination of housing sector related macroprudential policies in the UK and Germany. It finds that part of the reason for the observed differences is to be found in the fact that macroprudential authorities in the two countries tend to construct the intermediate goals of their macroprudential interventions in somewhat different ways, with the UK paying much greater attention to broader macroeconomic outcomes. These differences themselves, however, can only be properly understood in relation to the wider institutional and structural context (including different types of growth models) within the two countries, which create different links between their housing sectors and the real economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Our aim was to elicit a value set for Capability-Adjusted Life Years Sweden (CALY-SWE); a capability-grounded quality of life instrument intended for use in economic evaluations of social interventions with broad consequences beyond health. Methods: Building on methods commonly used in the quality-adjusted life years EQ-5D context, we collected time-trade off (TTO) and discrete choice experiment (DCE) data through an online survey from a general population sample of 1697 Swedish participants. We assessed data quality using a score based on the severity of inconsistencies. For generating the value set, we compared different model features, including hybrid modeling of DCE and TTO versus TTO data only, censoring of TTO answers, varying intercept, and accommodating for heteroskedasticity. We also assessed the models' DCE logit fidelity to measure agreement with potentially less-biased DCE data. To anchor the best capability state to 1 on the 0 to 1 scale, we included a multiplicative scaling factor. Results: We excluded 20% of the TTO answers of participants with the largest inconsistencies to improve data quality. A hybrid model with an anchor scale and censoring was chosen to generate the value set; models with heteroskedasticity considerations or individually varying intercepts did not offer substantial improvement. The lowest capability weight was 0.114. Health, social relations, and finance and housing attributes contributed the largest capability gains, followed by occupation, security, and political and civil rights. Conclusion: We elicited a value set for CALY-SWE for use in economic evaluations of interventions with broad social consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores ways to incorporate regulatory requirements into affordable housing construction contracts. Topics discussed include federal, state and local regulations that apply to a prime construction contract, applications for funding, grants or loans such as the Low Income Housing Tax Credits program, HOME Investment Partnerships Program and Housing Development Grant Funds, and supplementary conditions of the owner for affordable housing.

The article examines issues to be navigated and negotiated when representing the community partner in joint venture with an experienced developer utilizing low income housing tax credits (LIHTC). Topics discussed include low-income housing tax credit for affordable housing financing transactions, decision-making authority, allocation of the joint deal's economic benefits and risks, and right of first refusal of a qualified nonprofit organization under the LIHTC statute.

This paper describes a project exploring the viability in Australia of increasing the supply of small, affordable housing to those with limited income and wealth and a desire to live in homes that integrate with the community in meaningful ways and minimise consumption of building materials, land and energy. The research context is the increasing marketing and media coverage of tiny homes, which has prompted questions about whether such houses can offer an alternative affordable housing model. The project focused on four key issues: community integration, building and design, regulatory planning barriers, and financing and affordability. A combination of interviews, focus groups, and system thinking workshops was used to collect the views of stakeholders across the housing sector, including potential residents. Results indicate that a radical shift is needed from the planning authorities, housing supply and finance sector to enable the provision of affordable and sustainable compact homes that are adaptable to all stages of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the legal aspects of Indonesia's Housing Savings Law (Tabungan Perumahan Rakyat, Tapera). The study examines constitutional housing rights, challenges, and government involvement in housing financing, and underscores legal politics for equitable living environments. In line with Indonesia's 1945 Constitution, which aims to enhance the people's well-being, including their right to affordable and suitable housing, this is explicitly addressed in Article 28H, paragraph (1), emphasizing the right to live in physical and spiritual prosperity and have decent living conditions. The right to housing is clearly established as a human right in Law No. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights. However, challenges persist in providing affordable and accessible housing, as well as securing sustainable long-term funding. To address this, the government introduced Law No. 4 of 2016 on Public Housing Savings. This study examines the legal politics of this law, focusing on ensuring adequate and affordable housing for citizens. It emphasizes constitutional housing rights, challenges in meeting housing needs, and the government's involvement in housing financing. The study concludes by underlining the importance of legal politics in ensuring fairness and creating a secure living environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the Korean housing market using an agent-based simulation from financial and societal perspectives. We initialize heterogeneous household agents using microlevel household survey data from Korea, and we model housing decisions and interactions through a simulated market. First, we validate and calibrate the model to reproduce real-world observations and several stylized facts about the Korean housing market. Then, we conduct a policy experiment to determine the impact of changes in the quantity and cost of housing finance on households' living conditions and wealth inequality. As proxies for the quantity of housing finance, we adopt the loan-to-value and debt-to-income regulation ratios, classified as macroprudential policy, which are the leverage measures used by the Korean government. The interest rate, one of the levers of monetary policy, is also used as a proxy for housing finance costs. The results of the policy experiment confirm that the quantitative expansion of housing finance provides more benefits to high-income households, thereby worsening wealth inequality. In addition, we find that an increase in housing finance costs lowers the incentive to speculate on housing, but this speculation does not improve the housing status of middle-income households. Finally, we demonstrate that macroprudential policies mitigate the exacerbation of wealth inequality in a relaxed monetary policy state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying panel threshold regression technics along with alternative econometric investigation on a panel database of 48 sub‐Saharan African (SSA) countries over the period 2000–2012, this paper analyzes the structure of housing finance in SSA countries and mainly verifies if there is a threshold effect on shared prosperity. Independently of the method used, our findings offer strong evidence of an inverted U‐shaped relationship between housing finance and inequality. The current level of development of housing finance in SSA, which is at its very early stage, is not yet an effective tool for reducing economic inequality; however, beyond a given threshold, housing finance becomes effective in reducing inequality. Indeed, higher values of housing finance depth above a certain threshold of 6.35% reduce inequality, whereas values below 6.35% and very high values have no significant impact. In addition, there is a slightly positive relationship between housing finance and labor productivity growth in SSA. Results also show that the way housing finance impact inequality is highly dependent on their ability to implement effective crisis fight policies. Controlling for countries' income levels, legal origin, and regional proximity revealed relative benchmarking, typology, and characteristics of SSA housing finance. These findings suggest some policies to stimulate the development of housing finance in SSA. As a bonus, this paper also highlights several other pillars that can be used to support shared prosperity in SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comunicación is the property of Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores the shift to working from home among finance professionals in Canada as a result of the COVID‐19 pandemic. We present the results of a survey that invited quantitative and qualitative responses about attitudes toward working from home, the overlap between paid and unpaid (i.e., childcare and other caregiving) work in the home, changing relationships with employers, and preferences regarding the organisation and location of work. We argue that enforced working from home signalled a shift in outlook among finance professionals that, beyond stated preferences to work from home, shows both that many are seeking more autonomy and control over their working lives and a distinct ambivalence about working from home. This is significant in sectors like finance where overwork is common and in‐office dynamics are seen, especially by managers and employers, as particularly important in relation to mentorship, advancement, and promotion, often within rigid masculinist hierarchies. Thus, an eventual return to 'normal', i.e., full‐time office‐based work, may be especially appealing in this sector. This paper contributes to the expanding literature on working from home resulting from COVID‐19 lockdowns in white‐collar professions within and outside of geography, with a focus on the literatures on work, workplaces, and social reproduction in economic and financial geography. This paper explores the shift to working from home among finance professionals in Canada as a result of the COVID‐19 pandemic. We present the results of a survey that invited quantitative and qualitative responses about attitudes toward working from home, the overlap between paid and unpaid (i.e., childcare and other caregiving) work in the home, changing relationships with employers, and preferences regarding the organisation and location of work. We argue that enforced working from home signalled a shift in outlook among finance professionals that, beyond stated preferences to work from home, shows both that many are seeking more autonomy and control over their working lives and a distinct ambivalence about working from home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a time-varying parameter dynamic factor model with stochastic volatility estimated using Bayesian methods to disentangle the relative importance of the common component in Federal Housing Finance Agency house price movements from state-specific shocks, over the quarterly period of 1975Q2 to 2017Q4. We find that the contribution of the national factor in explaining fluctuations in house prices is critical. We then use a Bayesian change-point vector autoregressive model that allows for different regimes throughout the sample period, to study the impact of aggregate supply, aggregate demand, (conventional) monetary policy, and term-spread shocks, identified based on sign restrictions on the national component of house price movements. While monetary policy and other shocks are found to be quite dominant early on, we find evidence that the national factor has been detached from the identified macroeconomic shocks since 2014, thus suggesting that a "national bubble" might be brewing again in the US housing market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a financial market in which the risk-free rate of interest is modeled as a Markov diffusion. We suppose that home prices are set by a representative homebuyer, who can afford to pay only a fixed cash flow per unit time for housing. The cash flow is a fraction of the representative homebuyer's salary, which grows at a rate that is proportional to the risk-free rate of interest. As a result, in the long run, higher interest rates lead to faster growth of home prices. The representative homebuyer finances the purchase of a home by taking out a mortgage. The mortgage rate paid by the homebuyer is fixed at the time of purchase and equal to the risk-free rate of interest plus a positive constant. As the homebuyer can only afford to pay a fixed cash flow per unit time, a higher mortgage rate limits the size of the loan the homebuyer can take out. As a result, the short-term effect of higher interest rates is to lower the value of homes. In this setting, we consider an investor who wishes to buy and then sell a home in order to maximize his discounted expected profit. This leads to a nested optimal stopping problem. We use a nonnegative concave majorant approach to derive the investor's optimal buying and selling strategies. Additionally, we provide a detailed analytic and numerical study of the case in which the risk-free rate of interest is modeled by a Cox–Ingersoll–Ross (CIR) process. We also examine, in the case of CIR interest rates, the expected time that the investor waits before buying and then selling a home when following the optimal strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flanders has a relatively small but well targeted social housing stock. Social housing policy has been fairly stable since the devolvement of housing policy from the Belgian state to the regions in the 1980s. As such, Flanders did not follow the trends that were observed internationally in social housing finance and provision, e.g. towards privatization and replacing object subsidies by subject subsidies. However, things may change. Today, Flemish social housing is facing one of the most important reforms in its history. In 2023, the Social Housing Associations (SHAs) and Social Rental Agencies (SRAs) have to merge into 'Housing Companies'. The reform includes a radical redistribution of the working areas of the social housing providers, and will be accompanied by a reform of the allocation rules. In addition, a new finance mechanism is implemented aiming to subsidise private developers for building social and affordable housing. In this policy review, we describe these policy changes within the historical and international context, and discuss the reactions from stakeholders and researchers. We conclude that the policy changes will probably not alter the conclusion about the somewhat exceptional evolution of Flemish social housing within the international context, but need to be followed with care, as the access of social housing for vulnerable groups may become more difficult, could lead to a further slowdown of social housing investments and to a less cost-effective allocation of subsidies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government policies to encourage homeownership rates for low-income communities (MBR) are implemented through the Housing Finance Liquidity Facility (FLPP) program, executed since 2010. However, more than half of the built subsidized homes need to meet the minimum construction standards and infrastructure requirements that can impact the health quality of their occupants. This study aims to investigate the impact of government support for purchasing subsidized housing from Indonesia's FLPP program on district/city-level public health. The results of this study indicated that the FLPP program affects home occupancy rates and the FLPP program also has a negative relationship with community morbidity levels in the MBR group. As well, state intervention in the housing sector with the FLPP subsidized housing program can demonstrably improve the quality of public health. This study recommends that the government maintain the FLPP program because, apart from increasing occupancy, it indirectly impacts health quality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A typical real estate development project encounters an entrée capital expense for land purchase that is not immediately recovered until the allocated capital for the land acquisition is replaced with new capital that converts the land to a rentable building space. This article presents an idiosyncratic equity financing scheme that eliminates the sunk cost for a land purchase over a real estate development, within a real options framework. The study provides a model solution, numerical results of the option value, and the optimal investment threshold of a real estate development that is initiated through the "flats for land" scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses a two-step approach to construct a multi-period double-difference model and introduces a quasi-natural experiment of the Broadband China pilot policy to investigate whether household financial market participation at the urban level is affected by the digital economy, which is significant for promoting Chinese households' shift from savings to investment and alleviating the long-standing problem of insufficient household financial market participation in China. In terms of direct impact, the digital economy increases the household financial market participation rate of urban residents by 3.26%, and increases the financial market participation rate of highly financially literate households by 2.14%; in terms of indirect impact, the development of the digital economy increases the total number of household smart Internet devices by 8.27%, and similarly increases the attention to household financial information by a significant 4.22%, which further positively influences the household financial market participation rate. This paper also evaluates the individual and regional differences of the digital economy on household financial market participation, and the estimated causal effect of the digital economy on household financial market participation is purer, which expands the scope of research on the digital economy and household financial market participation, and provides a certain reference basis and policy inspiration for the government to promote the construction of the digital economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neoliberalization of housing policy and housing financialization have brought unequal impacts on housing outcomes. Drawing on eight waves of census data, this study uncovers the changing mechanism of housing stratification in selected Canadian census metropolitan areas from 1981 to 2016, a period when Canada transitioned from a welfare housing regime to a neoliberal regime. This study reveals entrenched housing inequality and strengthened income effect in determining access to affordable housing in the neoliberal era. Housing financialization has significantly contributed to intensified inequality in accessing affordable housing. Access to affordable housing in Canada is also stratified along the lines of gender and immigration status. Homeownership affordability for low-to-moderate-income households has significantly deteriorated over time, representing a new form of housing vulnerability in the neoliberal era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2016, Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has sought to improve his country's economic and strategic position through sports diplomacy. These efforts include investments in a diverse portfolio of sports properties, including hosting marquee professional sporting events at home and financing leagues and teams abroad. It is all part of Saudi Arabia's 'Vision 2030' strategic plan to diversify the Kingdom's economy. This paper discusses the foreign and domestic policy purposes underlying Saudi Arabia's sports diplomacy and their wider implications for the global economy. I argue that the sports diplomacy initiated by MBS is an investment both in the long-term strategic interests of Saudi Arabia and in the longevity of the ruling regime. Soft power accumulation, as would be predicted by the sports mega-events literature, is a secondary consideration. This paper unfolds in three parts, First, I discuss the relationship between sportswashing, sports diplomacy, and soft power. Second, I provide an overview of Saudi Arabia's sports engagements since 2014. Third, I explain Saudi Arabia's behaviour relative to the literature on sports diplomacy. Fourth, I explain Saudi Arabia's sports diplomacy with reference to the goals laid out in its Vision 2030 policy. I conclude with a discussion of the wider implications of Saudi Arabia's sports diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]