The Unassuming Economist

On cross-country:

• Western Cities Want to Slow Flood of Chinese Home Buying. Nothing Works. – Wall Street Journal
• International comparisons of mortgage markets, part II – Rutgers Center for Real Estate
• A Guide to Some of My Blog Posts, Hither and Yon – Steve Malpezzi
• Residential investment and economic activity: evidence from the past five decades – Bank for International Settlements
• Q1 2018: Strong house price rises continue in Europe, US and parts of Asia – Global Property Guide
• Book Review: Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Social Housing, by John Boughton – Financial Times
• Affordable housing solutions in pipes, containers and 3D printers – Reuters
• The financing of renovation in the social housing sector: A comparative study in 6 European countries – Housing Europe
• Why loan-to-value matters when you shop for a mortgage – Financial Times
• Blackstone remains global king of property funds – Financial Times

On the US:

• Can a new mayor fix San Francisco’s housing and homelessness problems? – Economist
• The Political and Policy Conundrum of Rent Control – Zillow
• A First Look at the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, the Economy, and Real Estate – Steve Malpezzi
• The Death of the Small Apartment Building – Bloomberg
• Why reducing urban traffic congestion can help the American middle class – London School of Economics
• California’s emigrants aren’t all moving to cheaper housing markets – MarketWatch
• After Years of Disinvestment, City Public Housing Is Poised to Get U.S. Oversight – New York Times
• In Vancouver, a Housing Frenzy That Even Owners Want to End – New York Times
• Los Angeles tenants increasingly engaging in rent strikes amid housing crisis – Washington Post
• Strategies for Responding to Gentrification – Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
• The Sharing Economy and Housing Affordability: Evidence from Airbnb – SSRN
• The Latest HUD Proposal Would Exacerbate the Housing Insecurity Crisis – Center for American Progress
• Shifting the risk of mortgage defaults from taxpayers to investors – Brookings
• Home Value Forecast: Does Quality of School System Impact Home Prices? – Pro Teck
• Housing Was Undersupplied during the Great Housing Bubble – George Mason University
• Response to the Federal Housing Finance Agency Request for Comment on How Its Regulations May Be Made More Effective and Less Burdensome – George Mason University
• Underwriting Loosening for Conventional Conforming Loans – CoreLogic
• Booming cities, unintended consequences – McKinsey
• S. house prices to rise at twice the speed of inflation and pay: Reuters poll – Reuters
• ‘YIMBY’ call to build more housing divides booming San Francisco – Reuters
• Red Tape Is What Keeps Housing Unaffordable – Foundation For Economic Education
• Boston’s housing market, in three charts – Urban Institute
• The Tight Housing Supply Is Raising Prices – Wall Street Journal
• Seattle Declares War on Workers With Wage and Housing Regulations – Mises Institute
• S. Home Flipping Rate Matches Six-Year High in Q1 2018 – ATTOM

On other countries:

• [Australia] Australia’s House Prices Retreat Appears Entrenched – Wall Street Journal
• [Canada] OPINION: All three major parties ignore real solutions to Ontario’s housing crunch – Toronto Sun
• [Canada] Steel and Aluminum Tariffs Could Leave Canada’s Housing Sector on Shakier Foundation – Wall Street Journal
• [China] Luxury Real Estate Comes to Urban Chinatowns – Wall Street Journal
• [China] China pushes state banks into home rental market at their own risk – Reuters
• [Denmark] Danish non-profit social housing and mortgage institutes – a common stand on future financial regulation – European Covered Bond Council
• [France] Airbnb: The home-sharing site’s number one destination is Paris, where it stands accused of driving up rents and house prices – Financial Times
• [Germany] Germany to toughen laws to stem steep rent hikes – Reuters
• [Ireland] Home mortgage debt outstanding legacy of Ireland’s financial crisis – Reuters
• [Ireland] Ireland’s housing crisis – The case for a European cost rental model – Nevin Economic Research Institute
• [Netherlands] Exploding house prices and imploding affordability in urban housing markets – Rabobank
• [Norway] Strong Norway house prices fuel August or September rate hike view – Reuters
• [United Kingdom] ‘Reform land valuation’ call to unlock housing plots in the UK – Financial Times
• [United Kingdom] Brexit puts a ceiling on London housing demand, prices – Reuters poll – Financial Times

Photo by Aliis Sinisalu

The IMF’s latest report on Romania says that:

• “Notwithstanding these improvements, vulnerabilities arise from the high exposure of banks to the real estate sector and sovereign debt. Real estate exposure rose with housing loans increasing from 21 to 54 percent of household loans between 2008 and 2017. These mortgage contracts (mostly at variable rates) expose banks to credit risks in the event of sharp increases in interest rates. The effectiveness of existing macroprudential tools on mortgages is undermined by the Prima Casa program, which allows loan-to-value ratios up to 95 percent. The Romanian banking system has also a large exposure to their own sovereign debt (one of the highest in the EU at around 20 percent of assets in 2017), that could lead to valuation losses in the event of interest rate increases. Finally, despite declining considerably since 2011, about 35 percent of banks’ liabilities and assets remain denominated in foreign exchange (FX), and FX liquidity risks can exist within an environment of ample overall liquidity.”

 

• “A Debt-Service-to-Income (DSTI) limit on mortgage lending would mitigate risks from the exposure of banks to the real estate sector. An appropriately set DSTI limit can boost borrowers’ resilience and should be imposed on all mortgages, including those made under
  the Prima Casa program. In this context, staff welcomed the government’s strategy to gradually scale back the program.”

From the IMF’s latest report on Thailand:

On cross-country:

• Book: Housing Policy, Wellbeing and Social Development in Asia – Taylor & Francis Group
• Conference: National Housing Conference – Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation
• Southern European housing policies: a legislative regulation perspective – Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa

On the US:

• Leaning Against Housing Prices as Robustly Optimal Monetary Policy – NBER
• Why Don’t House Price Growth and Inflation Move in Tandem? – Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
• Help wanted: Home builders need women, immigrants and robots to fill shortage – MarketWatch
• Where the House-Price-to-Income Ratio Is Most Out of Whack – Citylab
• Mortgage Interest Deduction Reform Worked; Sky Isn’t Falling – Cato Institute
• How Student Debt Can Ruin Home Buying Dreams – New York Times
• Quest for Affordable Housing Drives People Away From the Coasts – Pew Charitable Trusts
• Alexandria, Virginia Gets Housing Affordability Wrong – Cato Institute

On other countries:

• [Australia] Seven Charts That Show Why Australia’s Housing Boom Is Ending – Bloomberg
• [Australia] Chinese property investment in Australia plummets – Financial Times
• [Australia] Inquiry into increasing affordable housing supply: Evidence-based principles and strategies for Australian policy and practice – Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
• [Canada] Determinants of housing prices: evidence from Ontario cities, 2001-2011 – Emerald Insight
• [Canada] Canada’s ‘Unprecedented’ Reliance on Housing Fuels Recession Call – Bloomberg
• [Canada] Bank of Canada Seen on Hold Amid Trade Uncertainty, Housing Slowdown – Wall Street Journal
• [China] China’s Toughest Housing Curbs Test Limits of Speculative Buyers – Bloomberg
• [Hungary] Property prices boom in Budapest – Financial Times
• [Korea] Housing investment, default risk, and expectations: Focusing on the chonsei market in Korea – Regional Science and Urban Economics
• [Netherlands] Amsterdam Bets on Social Housing to Beat Soaring Prices – Bloomberg
• [Rwanda] How can the mismatch in housing supply be addressed? – The New Times
• [South Africa] Cape Town Rocked by Protests as Poor Communities Demand Housing – Bloomberg
• [United Arab Emirates] Why affordability is the new buzzword in Dubai real estate – JLL
• [United Kingdom] Will London Ever Get Affordable Housing? – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] UK Housing Review 2018 – UK Housing Review

Photo by Aliis Sinisalu

From the IMF’s latest report on Qatar: