Thursday, July 23, 2015
House Prices in Czech Republic
“(…) real estate prices continue their mild recovery”, says IMF report on Czech Republic.
Posted by at 3:03 PM
Labels: Global Housing Watch
House Prices in Japan
“Land and real estate prices have bottomed out in most market segments and condominium prices in metropolitan areas are rising again after a two-decade slump,” notes the IMF report on Japan.
Posted by at 2:56 PM
Labels: Global Housing Watch
Monday, July 20, 2015
LTV and DTI Limits—Going Granular
A new IMF paper by Luis I. Jácome and Srobona Mitra looks at how loan-to-value (LTV) and debt-service-to-income (DTI) limits work in practice (Brazil, Hong Kong SAR, Korea, Malaysia, Poland, and Romania). The authors find that “(…) rapid growth in high-LTV loans with long maturities or in the number of borrowers with multiple mortgages can be signs of build up in systemic risk; monitoring nonperforming loans by loan characteristics can help in calibrating changes in the LTV and DTI limits; Read the full article…
Posted by at 6:26 PM
Labels: Global Housing Watch
Housing Market in Lebanon
“Risks could arise following a sharper downturn of the real estate market. A sizable fraction of bank loans to the private sector have been directed at the real estate sector, where activity is softening. But, in the absence of a price index, the number and value of property sales can serve as a proxy for the housing cycle. Both indicators grew by close to 3 percent in 2014. This is slightly more than the 2009–14 average for the number of transactions, Read the full article…
Posted by at 6:09 PM
Labels: Global Housing Watch
Friday, July 17, 2015
IMF Staff Paper: Unionization, Minimum Wages and Inequality
“IMF economists have found a decline in unionization—that is, the reduction in the proportion of workers who are union members—and the erosion of minimum wages to be associated with rising inequality in advanced economies. However, these findings do not necessarily constitute a blanket recommendation for higher unionization and minimum wages.” Read the IMF Survey story and the paper.
This work adds to the growing stock of IMF work on inequality. Here’s:
- a guide to previous IMF work on inequality;
- a special feature on Jobs & Inequality,;
- new work on the impact of capital account liberalization on inequality; and,
- the IMF’s work on inequality in China
“IMF economists have found a decline in unionization—that is, the reduction in the proportion of workers who are union members—and the erosion of minimum wages to be associated with rising inequality in advanced economies. However, these findings do not necessarily constitute a blanket recommendation for higher unionization and minimum wages.” Read the IMF Survey story and the paper.
This work adds to the growing stock of IMF work on inequality.
Posted by at 10:03 PM
Labels: Inclusive Growth
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