Table of Contents
Notes on Contributors xv
Foreword by David Miles, Professor of Financial Economics, Imperial College, London xxi
Acknowledgements xxiii
1 Introduction: Milestones in European Housing Finance since 1989 1
Jens Lunde and Christine Whitehead
Why analyse developments in housing finance? 1
Defining housing finance 3
The countries 4
Trends in mortgage systems 5
Mortgage debt and house price increases – enabling each other? 7
Conclusions 13
References 14
2 European Housing Finance Models in 1989 and 2014 15
Jens Lunde and Christine Whitehead
Introduction 15
Mortgage systems 16
Funding the supply of mortgages 21
Mortgage characteristics 25
Overview 33
References 35
3 Australia’s 25 Years with a Deregulated Housing Finance System: Looking Back and Looking Forward 37
Judith Yates and María Belén Yanotti
The economic and institutional environment of the last 25 years 37
Key milestones 39
Impacts and implications of changes 43
Emerging issues 48
Conclusion 51
Acknowledgements 51
References 52
4 Milestones in Housing Finance in Austria over the Last 25 Years 55
Alexis Mundt and Elisabeth Springler
The economic and institutional environment of the last 25 years 55
Finance milestones 57
Impacts and outcomes 66
Looking to the future 70
Acknowledgements 71
References 71
5 Milestones in 25 Years of Housing Finance in Belgium 75
Sien Winters and Katleen Van den Broeck
Introduction 75
The Belgian housing finance system 76
The economic and institutional environment of the last 25 years in Belgium 76
Milestones during the last 25 years of housing finance in Belgium 77
Impacts 86
Looking to the future 88
Acknowledgements 89
References 89
6 Milestones in Housing Finance in the Czech Republic since 1990 93
Petr Sunega and Martin Lux
Introduction 93
Milestones in housing finance 95
Impacts 102
Future prospects 106
Acknowledgements 106
Notes 106
References 107
7 Milestones in Danish Housing Finance since 1990 109
Jens Lunde
Introduction 109
The economic environment of the last 25 years 110
The Danish mortgage system 111
Key milestones 113
The impacts of these milestones over the last 25 years 117
Parallel development in house prices and
owner‐occupiers’ net debt 118
The housing crisis, the national banking crisis and the Global Financial Crisis 121
The aftermath 123
The rescue operations 124
Looking to the future 124
Acknowledgements 125
References 126
8 Milestones in Housing Finance in England 127
Kathleen Scanlon and Henryk Adamczuk
Introduction 127
The economic and institutional environment of the last 25 years 128
Milestones in private housing finance 128
Milestones in social and affordable housing finance 136
Impacts 138
Looking to the future 142
Note 143
References 144
9 Milestones in Housing Finance in Finland 147
Timo Tähtinen and Tommi Laanti
Introduction 147
Key milestones 148
Impacts and implications of changes 154
Looking to the future 161
References 162
Further reading 162
10 Milestones of Housing Finance in France between 1988 and 2014: Is the French Credit System a Gallic Oddity? 165
Christian Tutin and Bernard Vorms
Introduction: A quarter of a century later 165
Finance milestones 166
Specifics of French housing finance 171
Impacts 175
Looking to the future 179
Conclusions 180
References 181
11 Milestones in the Development of the German Housing Finance System in the Last 25 Years 183
Stefan Kofner
The initial situation in 1989 183
Milestones at a glance 184
German reunification (1990): A friendly takeover by the white knight? 184
The conversion of homeownership subsidisation from a tax to a grant system (1996): Heading for a new balance of tenures? 186
Integration and deregulation of capital markets: risks for the future? 187
Trying to run a housing system without subsidies 190
Measures to rescue the financial system since 2008 191
The dynamics of the German system of housing finance since 1989 196
Notes 198
References 198
12 Moving from an Authoritarian State System to an Authoritarian Market System: Housing Finance Milestones in Hungary between 1979 and 2014 201
József Hegedüs and Eszter Somogyi
From socialism to capitalism: the economic and institutional environment 201
Finance milestones in the housing system 204 Impacts 214
The future of the housing finance system 216 References 217
13 Housing Finance in Iceland: Milestones 1989–2014 219
Lúðvík Elíasson and Magnús Árni Skúlason
Introduction 219
The economic and institutional environment of the past 25 years 220
The bumpy ride of Icelandic housing finance 221
Impacts 232
Looking to the future 235
References 237
14 Milestones in 25 Years of Housing Finance in Ireland 239
Padraic Kenna
Key milestones 239
Emerging issues 248
Conclusion 251
Acknowledgements 252
Notes 252
References 253
15 Milestones in Housing Finance in the Netherlands, 1988–2013 255
Marja Elsinga, Hugo Priemus and Peter Boelhouwer
Introduction 255
Milestones over the three periods 256
Impacts 265
Reflection 270
Acknowledgements 271
References 271
16 Housing Finance in Norway: The Last 25 Years 273
Rolf Barlindhaug
Introduction 273
The economic and institutional environment of the last 25 years 274
Finance milestones 275
The financial crisis 281
Impacts of the housing finance milestones 283
Looking into the future 286
Conclusion 287
Acknowledgements 288
References 288
17 Milestones of Housing Finance in Poland 291
Marta Widłak and Jacek Łaszek
Introduction 291
Housing finance milestones 292
Impact of housing finance milestones in Poland in the last 25 years 301
Looking towards the future 307
References 308
18 The Housing Finance System in Portugal since the 1980s 309
Romana Xerez and Jaime R. S. Fonseca
Introduction 309
Context: a legacy of family financing, the impact of the 1974 revolution and the period to 1989 310
Milestones in the development of the Portuguese housing market and housing finance since 1989 313
Impacts 319
Conclusions 321
Acknowledgements 323
References 323
19 Evolution of the Housing Finance System in Russia 325
Maria Plotnikova, Andrey Tumanov and Evgeniya Zhelezova
Introduction 325
Brief review of basic features of the Soviet era housing system 326
The housing system during the transition to a market economy (1990s) 328
Forming the basis for a housing mortgage financing system (1997–2005) 329
Between the market and the state (2005–2013) 333
State programmes to stimulate housing demand and supply 333
The effect of the GFC 335
What lies ahead? 337
References 339
20 Housing Finance in Slovenia: From a National Housing Fund to a Bank‐Driven System 341
Andreja Cirman and Richard Sendi
The economic and institutional environment of the last 25 years 341
Major policy changes 342
Impacts 353
Looking to the future 356
References 357
21 Housing Finance in Spain: From the Liberalisation of the Mortgage Market to Booms and Busts 359
Irene Peña and Baralides Alberdi
The economic and institutional environment of the last 25 years 359
Finance milestones 360
The impact of these milestones over the last 25 years 367
Looking to the future: financing into the future 372
References 374
22 Milestones in Swedish Housing Finance 375
Peter Englund
Background 375
Key milestones 378
Impacts 386
Looking to the future 389
References 390
23 Housing Finance in Turkey over the Last 25 Years: Good, Bad or Ugly? 393
Yener Coşkun
Introduction 393
The Turkish housing finance system over the last 25 years from a marketisation perspective 394
Finance milestones: The rise of marketisation and changes in housing finance 400
Impacts of the transformation of the housing finance system 402
Future trends in housing finance markets 405
Gated communities and housing finance 405
Conclusions 408
Acknowledgements 409
References 410
24 Milestones in EU Housing and Mortgage Markets 413
Jennifer Johnson, Lorenzo Isgrò and Sylvain Bouyon
Milestones in EU housing and mortgage markets 413
1990–2000 – Milestones: The Single European Market, deregulation and consolidation and product innovation 413
2001–2008 – Milestones: EU focus on mortgage credit, growth of covered bonds and adoption of the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) 418
2008–2014 – Milestones: Restoring financial stability, consumer protection and unlocking long‐term financing 421
Conclusion 428
References 430
25 Following On From a Quarter of a Century of Mortgage Debt 433
Jens Lunde and Christine Whitehead
Introduction: 1989 and 2014 433
Trends in mortgage systems over the quarter century 436
The impact of the GFC 439
Conclusions: looking back and looking forward 443
References 446
