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

Inclusive Growth Framework

What could housing reforms mean for Cuba?

Cuba has recognised private home ownership.

Isobel Anderson and Regina Serpa · The Conversation 06 Aug 2018

Environment and Natural Resource Security

Want to save the planet? Move to Wales

New policies allow easier access to planning permission if people build ecologically sustainable housing.

Max Baring · Thomson Reuters Foundation trust.org 03 Aug 2018

Inclusive Growth Framework

When looking at the house market, we should consider rent more closely

If property prices are rising, it is commonly assumed we must be facing a shortage of supply relative to demand. So if we’re ever going to reduce housing affordability problems, we’re sim...

Rachel Ong · The Conversation 02 Aug 2018