Jyske Bank, Denmark's third-largest bank, said this week that customers would now be able to take out a 10-year fixed-rate mortgage with an interest rate of -0.5%.

Will Martin · Business Insider 15 Aug 2019

United Kingdom

The UK is using shipping containers to create affordable housing

In the face of the affordable house shortage in the UK, one architect company is constructing homes out of shipping containers.

Matt Davis · Big Think 13 Aug 2019

Cities and Urbanization

These eco-friendly, affordable housing settlements around the world are under threat

1 billion people worldwide currently live in slums - this is expected to reach 3 billion within the next 30 years. Is 'development' really helping them?

Tanzil Shafique · The Conversation 09 Aug 2019

Infrastructure

How can Europe’s cities make housing more affordable?

Cities across Europe face housing challenges, with a lack of affordable homes a major issue. From London to Berlin, these are some of the proposed solutions.

JLL Staff Reporter · JLL Real Views 20 Jun 2019

Real Estate

The value of your house rising is great news, right? Not necessarily

According to IMF Blog's Chart of the Week, there is a tight link between movements in house prices and economic and financial stability.

IMF Blog · IMF Direct 21 May 2019

Cities and Urbanization

What slums can teach us about building the cities of the future

The adaptability and resilience of informal housing around the world could provide a useful model for fast-growing cities – if we can solve some of its problems, too.

Stephen Cairns 29 Mar 2019

Future of Economic Progress

Predictions for the economy in 2019, dynamic cities and other top stories of the week

Also in the round-up: the world's most dynamic cities, the politics of paradise and a new look at China's foreign policy.

Adrian Monck 11 Jan 2019

Real Estate

The cost of housing is tearing our society apart

Seventy years of consistent appreciation in housing values, combined with stagnant real wage growth, has caused a nationwide crisis of affordability in major cities, and an intensificatio...

Derek Fidler and Hicham Sabir 09 Jan 2019

Financial and Monetary Systems

State-dependent effects of monetary policy

Housing markets play a critical role in the monetary transmission mechanism. Persistent changes in monetary policy rates affect both variable and fixed mortgage rates. Changes in the latt...

Martin Eichenbaum, Sérgio Rebelo, and Arlene Wong · VoxEU 08 Jan 2019

Japan

Japan has so many empty homes it's giving them away

It’s the world’s third-largest economy. It also has the world’s most pronounced population decline. Now, Japan is giving away vacant homes to deal with an excess of housing stock.

Sean Fleming 30 Nov 2018

Future of Economic Progress

The causes and casualties of the US housing crisis

The U.S. is not about to see a rerun of the housing bubble that formed in 2006 and 2007, precipitating the Great Recession that followed, according to experts at Wharton. More prudent len...

Knowledge @Wharton · Knowledge@Wharton 18 Sep 2018

Banking and Capital Markets

What Spain can teach us about housing bubbles

Housing bubbles may crowd out credit from other sectors, but they may also have a crowding-in effect by providing collateral to real estate-owning firms or generating attractive assets wh...

Alberto Martin , Enrique Moral-Benito, and Tom Schmitz · VoxEU 17 Sep 2018

Inclusive Growth Framework

Washington residents have come up with a new model for affordable housing

With its prime location and rapid development over the past decade, the Columbia Heights neighbourhood commands among the highest rents in the U.S. capital — already one of the most expen...

Carey L. Biron · Thomson Reuters Foundation trust.org 24 Aug 2018