Housing and mortgage finance Research Papers (original) (raw)

TITLE: Control of Transparency, Unfair Terms and Contractual Consent. Reflections from the last case law of the Supreme Court about novation and transaction of floor clauses. RESUMEN: El presente trabajo toma como punto de partida la jurisprudencia del TJUE respecto del control de transparencia del artículo 4.2 de la Directiva 93/13 para establecer un posible entendimiento del mismo en relación con el consentimiento del contrato que justificaría que las cláusulas no transparentes puedan ser declaradas abusivas, mientras que las mismas cláusulas, ajustándose a las exigencias de transparencia, sean tenidas por válidas. Esta vinculación entre transparencia y consentimiento se distingue, sin embargo, de los vicios del consentimiento y opera de un modo distinto en la mecánica contractual. A partir de este entendimiento, el presente estudio analiza y razona acerca del modo de resolver del TS en sentencias recientes que abordan la posible novación y transacción de cláusulas no transparentes a fin de proporcionar una explicación de las mismas que encuentre un adecuado encaje en el ordenamiento. ABSTRACT: This paper considers the CJEU case law related to the control of transparency of article 4.2 Directive 93/13 in order to establish an understanding of this matter attached to contractual consent that could justify the fact that non-transparent clauses may be declared as abusive, while the same clauses, respecting the requirements of transparency, would be valid. Nonetheless, his link between transparency and consent differs from vice of consent and works in a different way in the mechanics of contract law. From this understanding, this paper analyses and reflects on the way the Supreme Court resolves in recent judgements about the possible novation and transaction of non-transparent clauses, in order to provide an explanation of them that fits in our legal system. SUMARIO: 1. INTRODUCCIÓN. 2. EL CONSENTIMIENTO SOBRE EL OBJETO PRINCIPAL DEL CONTRATO Y LA ADECUACIÓN ENTRE PRECIO O RETRIBUCIÓN Y BIENES O SERVICIOS. 2.1. Las pautas marcadas por el TJUE a partir de la interpretación de la Directiva 93/13. 2.2. El control de transparencia y el consentimiento contractual: planteamiento teórico. 2.3. La jurisprudencia del TJUE y del TS sobre la transparencia vinculada al consentimiento contractual. 2.4. Distinción entre consentimiento y negociación individual. 2.5. La transparencia como parámetro abstracto de validez: delimitación de la transparencia frente a los vicios del consentimiento. 3. LA AUTONOMÍA DE LA VOLUNTAD DEL CONSUMIDOR SOBRE CLÁUSULAS NO TRANSPARENTES O ABUSIVAS: LA TRANSACCIÓN Y LA NOVACIÓN APLICADAS A ESTA MATERIA. 3.1. La novación de cláusulas no transparentes 3.2. La transacción sobre cláusulas no transparentes. 3.2.1. La consideración del acuerdo como novación o como transacción.

- by
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- Consumer Law, Housing and mortgage finance

Concept of ‘Green Houses’ has become vitally significant in the contemporary centrality as the waves of green movement are sweeping across the world. Apart from benefits that such houses promise to the environment, they are cost-effective too. In spite of the sustainability and affordability benefits of Green Houses, in India they are yet to pick up momentum and the awareness regarding them among the general public is very little, unlike in the advanced nations where Green Houses and allied concepts are very popular. This paper makes a closer look into the vital significance of green, affordable and energy-efficient houses in the Kerala context, the current trend and pattern in respect of adoption of such housing practices and suggests strategies for promotion such houses for the benefit of the society at large without adverse environmental impacts.
Key Words: Green Houses, Green Rating, Cost-Effectiveness, Energy Efficiency.

- by manoj_p_k manoj_p_k
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- Manufacturing, Performance Management, Affordable Housing, Tourism

Mutual Funds industry in India is steadily growing in the ongoing reforms era, particularly since the 2000s when the industry has witnessed many innovations. However, Real Estate Funds(REFs) and its variants like Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) which are quite similar to mutual funds by structure are yet to pick up momentum in India, in spite of their tremendous growth potential; given the very low mortgage penetration in the country. Investments in REFs or REITs can offer significantly higher returns in India as against similar investment in developed nations. Accordingly, if properly developed REFs or REITs can significantly support the growth of residential real estate sector in India by attracting greater investment into this sector. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the regulatory authority in respect of securities market in India, has been trying to develop these innovative models for financing over the last few years. Its first attempt to bring in REITs in 2007 was not complete. Likewise, the second attempt of SEBI in 2008 to bring in a REIT regime in the REMF format was also not very successful for want of interest from the investors. Of late, as part of its third initiative SEBI has been successful in releasing the Draft of the Real Estate Investment Trust Regulations, 2013 and gathering the public comments on the above draft. SEBI has so far done a commendable job in taking into account international models and views of stakeholders. As SEBI is about to formally introduce the REIT regime in India in the early 2014, this paper makes a closer look into the features of the proposed REIT regulations, limitations thereof and accordingly suggests strategies to attract more investors into this innovative financial instrument; thus facilitating fast and sustained growth of housing and real estate sector in India, and hence the overall economic development of the whole nation.
Key Terms: Housing and Real Estate Sector, Housing Finance, SEBI, REFs, REITs

- by manoj_p_k manoj_p_k
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- Real Estate, Real Estate Development, Housing Policy, Housing

SOSTENIBILITA' DEL VALORE NEL FINANIAMENTO IMMOBILIARE.
Long Term Sustainable Value (LTSV), stima delle caratteristiche Green e High-Performance degli immobili, Valutazione della sostenibilità dei finanziamenti, dei progetti infrastrutturali e di sviluppo immobiliare, alla luce degli Orientamenti EBA in materia di concessione e monitoraggio dei prestiti e dei fattori Environmental Social and Governance (ESG).
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Sostenibilità del valore nel finanziamento immobiliare.
"The theory of value needs to be reconsidered in terms of long-term sustainability. Especially when the value is associated with a property which is a collateral for a mortgage." The essay on the Sustainability of Value in Property Financing (i.e. "Sostenibilità del valore nel finanziamento immobiliare"), provides an innovative conceptual framework for understanding the correlations between Long-term sustainable value, Sustainable lending, Sustainable finance associated with Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) factors, Market sustainability and Economic development. This book (currently in Italian only) is based on an international perspective in order to contribute to the analysis of issues of increasing importance for the stakeholders of the banking and financial industry.

Firms can finance themselves on- or off-balance sheet. Off-balance sheet financing involves transferring assets to "special purpose vehicles" (SPVs), following accounting and regulatory rules that circumscribe relations between the sponsoring firm and the SPVs. SPVs are carefully designed to avoid bankruptcy. If the firm's bankruptcy costs are high, off-balance sheet financing can be advantageous, especially for sponsoring firms that are risky. In a repeated SPV game, firms can "commit" to subsidize or "bail out" their SPVs when the SPV would otherwise not honor its debt commitments. Investors in SPVs know that, despite legal and accounting restrictions to the contrary, SPV sponsors can bail out their SPVs if there is the need. We find evidence consistent with these predictions using data on credit card securitizations.

PATENT FOR SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING ELECTRONIC REAL ESTATE REGISTRY INFORMATION which will be referenced during "Taking Back Our Country" on Hamilton Radio on Monday, November 16, 2015 at 10:00 pm est, 9:00 pm cst, 8:00 pm rmst,... more

- by Scott Stafne
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- Law, Philosophy Of Law, Mortgage Foreclosure, Stop Foreclosure

Land as fixed assets upon which a monetary value could be accrued seems to be valueless if appropriate valuation method is not used in appraising its monetary worth.As a results,most investors in the commercial real estate market value the rents of their lands using the right methods of valuation.This paper discusses the right methods of valuation used when the purpose of valuing the property becomes known.It was revealed from the survey conducted in the property market in Wa in the Upper West region of Ghana that most landlords used the capital method of valuation in knowing the monetary worth of their propetties taken into consideration the cost of the land and the price of building materials.As a results,the study took a residential apartment and by applying the cannons of the capital and the comparison methods of valuation to value such property and the outcome of such valuation aided in knowing how rental payments are made in the city.Transact walk,personal observation and questionnaires were used to gather raw data from the property market while data from the lands commission and the valuation department in the Wa Municipal Assmbly served as secondary data upon which comparisons were made on previous and current property values.It was then revealed that the cap rate is the most key factor that determines the capital worth of propeties and as such most investors have different rental values depending on the variability of the cap rate.

Recent studies have used statistical methods to show that minorities were more likely than equally qualified whites to receive high-cost, high-risk loans during the U.S. housing boom, evidence taken to suggest widespread discrimination in the mortgage lending industry. The evidence, however, was indirect, being inferred from racial differentials that persisted after controlling for other factors known to affect the terms of lending. Here we assemble a qualitative database to generate direct evidence of discrimination. Using a sample of 220 statements randomly selected from documents assembled in the course of recent fair lending lawsuits, we code texts for evidence of individual discrimination, structural discrimination, and potential discrimination in mortgage lending practices. We find that 76 percent of the texts indicated the existence of structural discrimination, with only 11 percent suggesting individual discrimination alone. We then present a sample of texts that were coded as discriminatory to reveal the way in which racial discrimination was embedded within the social structure of U.S. mortgage lending, and to reveal the specific microsocial mechanisms by which this discrimination was effected.

- by Len Albright and +2
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- Segregation, Race and Racism, Discrimination, Racism

ABSTRACT Nigeria- a developing West-African nation with a population of approximately 188 million people has a wide residential real estate supply-demand gap which is revealed in... more

ABSTRACT
Nigeria- a developing West-African nation with a population of approximately 188 million people has a wide residential real estate supply-demand gap which is revealed in the shortage of approximately 17 million residential units. Additionally, the homeownership rate is approximately 25% which makes it one of the lowest in Africa. Furthermore, the residential real estate finance system is characterised by informal finance sources mainly because of the poor performing mortgage finance system.
This research thus attempts to describe the residential real estate finance system in Nigeria and explore factors that may be influencing the mortgage market. A model is developed to test the life-cycle theory which examines the influence age, interest rate and household disposable income on the mortgage market.
The research adopts a quantitative approach making use of mainly time series panel data. The study is based on secondary data sourced from various reliable national and international databases. Descriptive techniques are used to show the national economic trends, while analytical techniques are used to test and predict the influence of the various factors in the mortgage market based on the model developed.
The results of the non-linear regression reveal that mortgage demand is negatively influenced by age group, interest rate and household disposable income. The researcher thus concludes that that the potential of the residential real estate market in Nigeria will only be fully explored if the mortgage market is improved upon. The researcher further suggests that the reduction of interest rates is a key strategy which has the potential to improve affordability and thus develop the mortgage market with further potential to improve homeownership rate, attract investment in the financial sector and improve the Nigerian national economy, thus consolidating Nigeria’s position as the fastest growing economy in Africa.

In the literature one finds various explanations for the rise of financialized capitalism. In the different strands of financialization literature, housing either plays a minor role or is simply seen as one of the bearers of financialization. The relations between housing and financialization are under-researched and under-theorized. This article, first, looks at the rise of housing finance as an integral part of macro-economic policy, and second, at the role of financial globalization in the rise of housing finance. Housing is seen as an absorber of a ‘wall of money’, but the absorption of finance by housing is a very uneven process. Four trajectories of national institutional structures are suggested and it is discussed how capital flows are absorbed in each of these trajectories. Finally, it is discussed what this tells about the geographies of financialized capitalism, and its relations to debt, housing, mortgage markets and the spatial fix.

- by Rodrigo Fernandez and +1
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- Economic Geography, Political Economy, Globalization, International Political Economy

Housing is a key object of financialization. There is a small but growing literature on the financialization of housing that has demonstrated how housing is a central aspect of financialization. Despite the varied analyses of the financialization of housing and the importance of housing to financialization, the relations between housing and financialization remain under-researched and under-theorized. The financialization of housing is not so much a specific from of financialization, as it transcends several of the different forms of financialization. Housing systems, in particular, differ widely across the globe, which implies that housing financialization will be inherently variegated, path-dependent and uneven. In this introduction to the Symposium, I will discuss how the articles in this Symposium contribute to the literature on the financialization of housing. Housing has entered a post-Fordist, neoliberal and financialized regime. Both mortgaged homeownership and subsidized rental housing increasingly are there to keep financial markets going, rather than being facilitated by those markets. There is little evidence that the global financial crisis has resulted in a de-financialization of housing. There are common trajectories within uneven and variegated financialization rather than radically different and completely unrelated forms of housing financialization.
Key words: housing, financialization, mortgage markets, rental housing, home ownership, state and public sector

- by Manuel Aalbers
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- Welfare State, Securitization, Urban Studies, Housing Policy

This paper explores the relationships between local or national housing markets and recent historic transformations in global capitalism. It proposes a periodization of developments in housing markets, policies and practices distinguishing between, first, the pre-modern period; second, the modern or Fordist period; third, the flexible neoliberal or post-Fordist period; and fourth, the late neoliberal or emerging post-crisis period. This periodization is a heuristic device that helps to make sense of the interdependence of national housing markets and the global financial crisis. The argument is not that the crisis caused the breakdown of the post-Fordist housing model, but rather that the shift to this model introduced certain dynamics to housing markets that a few decades later culminated into a crisis. The start of the Great Moderation was also the start of the financialization of states and economies in various domains, particularly housing. In making this argument, I unpack the concept of the Great Moderation: what appeared to be a structural moderation of macroeconomic cycles was in fact the build-up of a bubble economy. The 1970s and early 1980s as well as the post-2007 crisis are critical junctures in the development of housing. The Great Moderation was also a Great Excess in terms of rising inequality and excessive credit and debt, suggestive of a finance-led regime of accumulation.
Keywords: global financial crisis, Great Moderation, financialization, periodization, regime of accumulation, debt

- by Manuel Aalbers
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- Macroeconomics, Political Economy, Globalization, Ideology

The aim of this paper is to review the legal frame and the correction of the activity developed by appraisal firms and its activity determining the value of properties, from the birth of the current mortgage market until the reforms after the crisis. It is one of the less analyzed issued inside the global readjustment of the legal regime of mortgage credit in the last years. A review about the evolution on this matter evidences that the risks of the system, transformed now in perversions, were already present since the “Ley del Mercado Hipotecario” from 1981.

- by Rebeca Carpi
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- Property Law, Housing and mortgage finance

Real sector is the growth centre for the development of an economy. Bangladesh, being one of the densely populated nations in the world has been experiencing severe inadequacy of housing shortage for its citizens. Although majority of the population are segmented into the middle and low income groups, still the housing for all has been a fallacy in Bangladesh. The private sector housing real estate developers have contributed a small proportion in the national housing demand and supply gap for the last more than twenty years. Despite inadequate policy preparations, these real estate developers have been successfully making business although the middle and low income households are still untapped. With the larger proportion of people living in this income group, the private housing real estate sector has a huge scope to grow in this country. The positive notion is supported by many key indicators such as increasing house rent, inadequate and costly land, easier financing availability and more. To pave the way for the organic development of the industry, the problem of long existent inadequate financing availability at flexible terms and costs must have to be removed immediately, and wider scope has to be created for Non Resident Bangladeshis. With many other issues, this study attempts to identify the current status of the private housing real estate in Bangladesh, presents deeper insights of the critical factors for increasing its coverage, and thus finally recommends some immediate policy measures.

- by Suborna Barua and +1
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- Real Estate, Urbanization in Developing Areas, Emerging real estate markets, Real Estate Development

Over the years, real estate financing has been a preserve for mortgage financing companies. With time, commercial banks have started engaging in mortgage financing. With the rising non-performing loans among Kenyan banks, mortgages have
seen as a safer bet to improve the loan portfolio performance. The study sought to investigate the effect of real estate finance on the financial performance of listed commercial banks in Kenya. Data for nine listed commercial banks was collected for the period 2009 – 2013 from the annual reports of the respective banks. Panel regression analysis was employed on the collected data. The results showed that real estate finance did not have a significant effect on the financial performance of listed commercial banks. Foreign ownership, market structure, the cost of bank operations, and the size of the bank significantly influenced bank performance. The study concludes that real estate finance does not influence the financial performance of listed commercial banks. It is recommended that the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and stakeholders in the housing sector strategize to improve uptake of affordable mortgage loans in order to improve the overall performance of banks. This study contributes to literature by providing the link between real estate financing and the financial performance of banks from a developing country’s perspective in Sub-Saharan Africa where housing demand is on the rise and, therefore, offers enormous opportunity for rapid growth for banks. Further areas for research are recommended.

- by Fredrick O Odhiambo
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- Finance, Banking, Kenya, Mortgages

There are two dominant discourses on finance: in the first, finance is the great enabler; in the second, finance is the great divider, the driver of social exclusion. What starts out as finance as an enabler can easily turn into finance as a divider. If someone's mortgage loan application is accepted, they may see finance as the enabler of homeownership, but if the loan conditions are predatory in nature, finance becomes a means of extraction. This paper focuses on two ways in which housing finance creates harm: redlining and predatory lending. This paper does not discuss new empirical research on redlining or predatory lending, but provides a selective overview of studies documenting these two forms of housing finance as harm. These two forms of housing finance share a number of characteristics related to exclusion, social groups, geography and local impact. Mortgage redlining is a form of place-based discrimination from housing finance. By delineating neighborhoods in which lenders do not grant mortgage loans they exclude households who want to buy a house and those who cannot sell their house. Predatory lending is a subset of subprime lending. Predatory loans are designed to exploit vulnerable borrowers. The rise of predatory lending had little to do with the mantra of emerging homeownership markets. In conclusion, mortgage lenders have the power to harm potential borrowers through direct exclusion (mortgage redlining) or indirect exclusion through overpriced loans (subprime and in particular predatory lending).
Keywords: mortgage finance, redlining, subprime lending, predatory loans, social exclusion, homeownership

- by Manuel Aalbers
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- Finance, Human Geography, Securitization, Discrimination

Inadequate housing supply is one of the biggest challenges facing both developed and developing countries today with housing finance being a critical factor. The informal sector is the largest housing supply system in Ghana but has not been able to meet the increasing housing demand. This is partly because of inadequate and ineffective financial mechanisms for financing informal housing provision in Ghana. The Study therefore investigated the major financing mechanisms used by the informal sector and factors which hinder their access to formal credit facilities. A cross-sectional research design was adopted for the Study. Simple random sampling was used to select the ten communities whilst the convenience sampling method was used to select the homeowners. A total of 310 interviews were conducted out of the total determined sample size of 392. The major findings emanating from the Study included the dominant use of informal source of housing finance; the existence of an underdeveloped mortgage market; and uneasy access to formal credit facilities from financial institutions. These have led to homeowners building incrementally and hence delay in housing completion. The Study therefore recommends microfinance for housing, site and services scheme and a non-mortgage lending facility for the informal sector.

AbstractDo globalization and Europeanization lead to the deterritorialization of European mortgage markets? Neither economic globalization nor EU policies have resulted in one European mortgage market. The various European mortgage markets are still quite different from one another in many respects. In most countries national lenders continue to dominate the market even though regulation itself has been internationalized to some extent. Deterritorialization has been slow for various reasons: tax, law, cultural and structural differences play a part, but the limited market share of mortgage intermediaries and the unequal treatment of foreign mortgage lenders in some countries also form a barrier. Path-dependent trajectories are highly important, but can sometimes be bypassed by global processes or downplayed by the entry of foreign firms. The secondary mortgage market is increasingly becoming globalized, while most primary mortgage markets remain largely national. The financial crisis may temporarily slow down securitization, while simultaneously both decreasing and increasing the globalization of mortgage regulation, firms and markets.Do globalization and Europeanization lead to the deterritorialization of European mortgage markets? Neither economic globalization nor EU policies have resulted in one European mortgage market. The various European mortgage markets are still quite different from one another in many respects. In most countries national lenders continue to dominate the market even though regulation itself has been internationalized to some extent. Deterritorialization has been slow for various reasons: tax, law, cultural and structural differences play a part, but the limited market share of mortgage intermediaries and the unequal treatment of foreign mortgage lenders in some countries also form a barrier. Path-dependent trajectories are highly important, but can sometimes be bypassed by global processes or downplayed by the entry of foreign firms. The secondary mortgage market is increasingly becoming globalized, while most primary mortgage markets remain largely national. The financial crisis may temporarily slow down securitization, while simultaneously both decreasing and increasing the globalization of mortgage regulation, firms and markets.RésuméLa mondialisation et l'européanisation conduisent-elles à la déterritorialisation des marchés hypothécaires européens? Ni la mondialisation économique ni les politiques de l'UE n'ont produit un marché unique européen du crédit hypothécaire. Au sein de l'Europe, les marchés hypothécaires restent très différents à plusieurs titres. Dans la plupart des pays, les établissements de prêt nationaux dominent encore le marché, même si on a relativement internationalisé la réglementation. La déterritorialisation se fait lentement pour plusieurs raisons; fiscalité, législation, différences culturelles et structurelles pèsent, mais la part de marché restreinte qu'occupent les intermédiaires en prêts hypothécaires, ainsi que le traitement inégal réservé aux prêteurs étrangers dans certains pays, constituent également un obstacle. Les chemins de dépendance sont particulièrement importants, bien qu'ils puissent parfois être contournés par des processus mondialisés, ou être minimisés par l'accès de sociétés étrangères. En matière de crédit hypothécaire, le marché secondaire se mondialise de plus en plus, tandis que les marchés primaires demeurent en grande partie nationaux. La crise financière va peut-être ralentir temporairement la titrisation, tout en atténuant et renforçant parallèlement la mondialisation de la réglementation, des sociétés et des marchés du crédit hypothécaire.La mondialisation et l'européanisation conduisent-elles à la déterritorialisation des marchés hypothécaires européens? Ni la mondialisation économique ni les politiques de l'UE n'ont produit un marché unique européen du crédit hypothécaire. Au sein de l'Europe, les marchés hypothécaires restent très différents à plusieurs titres. Dans la plupart des pays, les établissements de prêt nationaux dominent encore le marché, même si on a relativement internationalisé la réglementation. La déterritorialisation se fait lentement pour plusieurs raisons; fiscalité, législation, différences culturelles et structurelles pèsent, mais la part de marché restreinte qu'occupent les intermédiaires en prêts hypothécaires, ainsi que le traitement inégal réservé aux prêteurs étrangers dans certains pays, constituent également un obstacle. Les chemins de dépendance sont particulièrement importants, bien qu'ils puissent parfois être contournés par des processus mondialisés, ou être minimisés par l'accès de sociétés étrangères. En matière de crédit hypothécaire, le marché secondaire se mondialise de plus en plus, tandis que les marchés primaires demeurent en grande partie nationaux. La crise financière va peut-être ralentir temporairement la titrisation, tout en atténuant et renforçant parallèlement la mondialisation de la réglementation, des sociétés et des marchés du crédit hypothécaire.

- by Manuel Aalbers
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- Finance, European Studies, European integration, Globalization
- by Scott Talkov
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- Real Estate, Civil Law, Real Estate Finance, Real estate law

The task of this paper is to examine the provisions of the Mortgage and Property Law 2010 of Lagos State and align it with the provisions of the National Housing Policy, nay Lagos State housing policy with a view at highlighting the congruence and incongruence of the law towards achieving the lofty goals espoused in the National Housing Policy document.

The article presents the dynamics of mortgage loans provided by commercial banks of the Republic of Armenia, the change in the volume of income tax returned to individuals in exchange for the interest paid by them on mortgage loans, as well as the structure of credit investments in the RA mortgage market.
Within the framework of the study, the task was set to effectively regulate mortgage lending using the principle of income tax refund of the borrower and co-borrower; it was proposed to return the co-borrower's income tax on a quarterly basis in the amount of the remaining interest on the loan, regardless of whether he is a co-owner of the property.
Keywords: mortgage, co-borrower, interest, commercial bank, income tax

- by Armand Armton
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- Banking, Mortgage markets, Housing and mortgage finance, Banking and Finance

The Staples Review was one of the most important reviews of housing in Australia, though it rarely is mentioned. It commissioned six papers from four high-powered authors on matters of key interest to the Commonwealth. The review was an... more

- by Joe Flood
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- Housing Policy, Housing and mortgage finance

El acceso a la vivienda para los sectores medios se ha dificultado debido a su encarecimiento en los últimos años. Si bien la Ciudad de Buenos Aires presenta el mayor ingreso per cápita del país, tales recursos no potencian un acceso justo a la vivienda y a la ciudad. Es importante decir que el problema de la vivienda no se limita a una lógica de oferta-demanda. Antes bien, se explica por una clara decisión política sobre a qué sectores se busca orientar el acceso a la ciudad. En este trabajo reﬂexionamos sobre esta cuestión, analizando cuatro dimensiones. En primer lugar, realizamos un diagnóstico sobre el problema habitacional en la ciudad. En segundo lugar, relevamos la situación de los alquileres. A continuación, damos cuenta de las
limitaciones en los nuevos créditos hipotecarios para promover el acceso a la vivienda. Finalmente, estudiamos la problemática del suelo, en un contexto de privatización de tierras y promoción de los negocios
inmobiliarios. El argumento central que desplegamos en este texto es que las medidas tomadas recientemente por el ejecutivo nacional y local han contribuido a agravar las condiciones anteriores.

- by Ivana Socoloff
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- Housing Policy, Argentina, Affordable Housing, Housing and mortgage finance

The housing crisis of the 2000s exposed fissures in the U.S. financial system. These shortcomings allowed the system to become encumbered with excessive risk and ultimately triggered the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. In the wake of the deep recession, many academics and researchers wrote post-mortems identifying key causes of the crisis. In 2010, Congress passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, also known as Dodd-Frank, and President Obama signed it into law. It sought to address many of the identified problems by reforming regulations pertaining to mortgage lending, securities trading, banking, insurance, consumer protection, and corporate governance. This chapter explores three causes of the crisis that the regulatory reforms have yet to fully address. First, we highlight challenges that prevented credit rating agencies from being a useful source of information for mortgage-backed securities investors to impose effective market discipline on issuers. Second, we show the failure of several institutional arrangements designed to prevent firm owners and managers from looting the institutions over the short run at the expense of shareholders, who are expecting a maximization of profits over the longer term. Finally, we consider markets from the consumer perspective. We note the tension between overcoming market tendencies to ration credit and exposing households with limited resources to risks associated with products that can broaden access to credit by easing borrowing constraints. In each case, we offer possible strategies for more effectively tackling these problems. Regarding ratings agencies, we propose a new structure where agency-investor conflicts of interest are removed and agencies only assess " ratings eligible " products. Reforms in executive compensation, covenant banking for investment banks, and increased penalties for looting that make criminal liability a real deterrent for firm owners and managers are possible avenues to reduce the likelihood of looting by insiders. Third, we argue that significant investments should be made in financial education to make consumers an additional bulwark – to go with laws and regulations – against abuses and bad outcomes.

- by Anthony Orlando
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- Finance, Economic History, Economics, Financial Economics

This article investigates the enforcement of mortgages in South Africa and England. It specifically focuses on the influence of human-rights housing principles in so far as they may require courts to conduct a proportionality enquiry whenever a legal process leads to the loss of a home. It appears that art 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms — essentially the United Kingdom's housing clause — is conceptually similar to s 26(1) of the South African Constitution. The underlying idea is that, when a home is violated, justification must be provided as regards the proportionate relationship between the purpose of the violation and the impact of the violation on the occupier. English law already accepts that this principle applies when local authorities seek to evict unlawful occupiers, but this approach has not yet been extended to mortgage repossessions. Conversely, South African law already acknowledges that the housing clause must be applied in mortgage cases. After investigating developments in both jurisdictions, the article concludes that a proportionality test is workable in mortgage cases. Furthermore, the traditional assumption that 'creditors must win', although still relatively strong, is in the process of being replaced by a more contextual approach.

- by Reghard Brits
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- Mortgages, article 8 ECHR, Housing and mortgage finance

This dissertation advances the state of knowledge on interest group influence in congressional committees. Portions of this work have been delivered at the American Political Science Association Annual Meetings. In 2015, this dissertation... more

Nigeria as we speak is the fastest urbanizing country in the African continent. The most important challenge facing the country is the provision of affordable housing. As many more Nigerians make towns and cities their homes, the challenges need to be urgently addressed. One of the major problems facing the urbanization process is housing.

- by Louanges Okeke
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- Housing and mortgage finance

ABSTRACT: Do place and race matter in mortgage loan applications? This article presents evidence from mortgage markets in the Dutch cities of Arnhem, The Hague, and Rotterdam, suggesting that place, and to a lesser extent also race, do matter. In general, race and place are not factors of direct exclusion, but (1) zip codes are included in credit scoring systems, and (2) both place and race are significant factors in the assessments by loan officers because applicants who do not meet all formal criteria are more often accepted (“overrides”) for indigenous Dutch and low-risk neighborhoods than for ethnic minorities and high-risk neighborhoods. In addition, a “national mortgage guarantee” is compulsory for loan applications in high-risk neighborhoods and thereby used as a substitute for redlining, comparable to the compulsoriness of private mortgage insurance in the United States. Some lenders also engage in direct redlining by rejecting low-risk “national mortgage guarantee” loans in high-risk neighborhoods, a practice potentially explained by transaction cost economizing. Since the high-risk neighborhoods in all three cities accommodate relatively large shares of ethnic minority groups, they are hit twice: through place-based and through race-based exclusion. In other words, place-based disparate treatment results in race-based disparate impact. The neighborhood does matter; place-based exclusion in the mortgage market has a neighborhood effect.

- by Manuel Aalbers
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- Credit Scoring, Ethnic minorities, Social Exclusion, Gatekeeping

The Kenyan mortgage market has been experiencing slow growth despite the upsurge of housing prices over the last few years. All commercial banks offer mortgage finance but still only a small percentage of Kenyans have used mortgages. Only about 11% of the urban population has used mortgage finance and this rate is very low given the high demand for housing units in Kenya as provided by the UNHABITAT research. This study involved a census survey of all the 44 commercial banks in Nairobi as published by the Central Bank of Kenya. The study used primary data which was collected through questionnaires issued to the credit analysts in these banks at their head offices in Nairobi. Credit analysts have more information about access to mortgages as they are involved in appraisal of all applications before any approvals are made. These questionnaires were then collected at a later date. Data analysis was done through a regression equation which analyzed the relationship between the factors and access to mortgage finance. The results showed that, the most important factor affecting access to mortgage finance was credit risk which greatly affects access to mortgage finance as banks take caution when lending. With regard to income level, a low income level increases the chances of defaulting in repayment and also determines affordability to meet the monthly payments. Therefore, high income investors formed the majority of applicants for mortgages. For the cost of mortgage factor, the majority of mortgage applicants require fixed rates of interest. For the property registration, without a title deed, one cannot obtain a mortgage due to lack of collateral for the mortgage. Finally, mortgage information also affects access to mortgage finance but to a little extent. The study recommended that banks should change their marketing strategies and the government to form efficient policies in support of the mortgage market.

- by Fredrick Kalui and +1
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- Banking, Performance determinants in banking industry, Housing and mortgage finance

Compared to the extensive assistance afforded to Ireland’s banks since 2008, interventions to assist troubled mortgagors have been limited, with Government and the banks strongly resisting debt write-downs in favour of a policy of mortgage forbearance. Forbearance involves restructuring a debt’s contractual terms to ease a debtor’s repayment schedule. In practice, forbearance has been a strategy of ‘extend and pretend’ where lenders have been slow to offer restructurings or have relied on temporary interventions that impose minimal costs upon them. Forbearance benefited lenders by negating the pressure to enforce possession of devalued property, while ensuring borrowers remain solely responsible for outstanding debts. Despite the emphasis on forbearance, few studies have examined borrowers’ experiences of forbearance, particularly their experience of communicating their difficulties with their lenders. This paper firstly utilises national data to examine forbearance as a strategic response by the Irish authorities to the mortgage arrears crisis. Secondly, mortgage-stressed borrowers’ experiences of forbearance are examined using data drawn from a survey (n=433) of mortgagors which dealt specifically with mortgage payment issues following the crash. The article documents a shift in lenders’ arrears management strategies from 2013, with an increased emphasis on longer-term restructurings but also an increasing appetite for repossession.

- by Richard Waldron
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- Housing, Financialization, Financial Crisis of 2008/2009, Ireland

This paper sheds new light on the role of borrower characteristics in mortgage
product choice, and how these are impacted by regulatory capital requirements.Using
rich loan-level data from the Australian market we analyse the way
in which these risk effects impact the choice between adjustable rate mortgages
and a range of complex mortgages which provide reduced initial payments. For
the first time we find that all three of income, wealth and mobility risks play a role
in product choice. We also investigate the role of regulatory capital requirements
in an environment where banks hold mortgage risk on their balance sheet and find
that the Basel capital discounts based on loan-to-valuation ratios divide otherwise
similar borrowers between ARM and CM product choices.

- by Maria Belen Yanotti and +1
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- Australia, Mortgage markets, Mortgage Lending, Mortgages
- by Harr Yaasamoah
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- Spatial Analysis, Urban Planning, Computer Aided Design, Housing

From the mid-1990s, Ireland experienced a property bubble, fuelled by deregulation in the banking sector and government commitment to expanding home ownership. However, since 2007, the situation has dramatically reversed. The banking system and property market have collapsed and pushed the Irish state into insolvency. National house prices have fallen by 50 per cent from the peak in 2007, whereas incomes have contracted and the unemployment rate has increased. This has produced a serious situation regarding negative equity and mortgage arrears, a problem highlighted by the former U.S. President Bill Clinton on a visit to Ireland in 2011. This paper examines government responses to the mortgage crisis, particularly their emphasis on mortgage forbearance and reform of Ireland's bankruptcy legislation. An overview of the drivers of the bubble and the extent of negative equity and arrears is provided firstly. In conclusion, the paper reflects upon the implications of the crisis for the homeownership model that Ireland has followed for the last two decades.

- by Richard Waldron
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- Housing Policy, Ireland, Housing Systems and Welfare, Low Income Homeownership

Mortgage markets are not just important due to their sheer volume, but also because most homeowners depend on them, because they fuel the economy both directly and indirectly and because they serve an ideological purpose in the neoliberal age. The 'regulated deregulation' of mortgage markets is not just a goal in itself, but also a means to further the neoliberal agenda of private property, firms and growing profits. This chapter discusses the geographies of mortgage markets. The patterns and structures of mortgage lending reflect uneven socioeconomic geographies but also contribute to re/producing uneven development and this takes place at different scales. This chapter focuses specifically on two scales: the urban geographies of mortgage lending and the international geography of mortgage funding. Once we start looking at the interaction of these geographies, we can begin to understand the crucial role of the mortgage market in the origins and spread of the global financial crisis. These geographies and the ensuing crisis will be discussed in terms of the financialization of home, which was enabled though regulated deregulation, securitization and credit scoring.

- by Manuel Aalbers
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- Credit Scoring, Securitization, Housing Policy, Housing

Everyone knows that there is an accurate list of documents which are required when you apply for a loan. And when it comes to a mortgage loan, you need to be a little more careful regarding all the documents that are necessary to apply... more

- by johny howard
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- Finance, Banking, Investment Banking, Investment

Between 1918 and 1960, those Americans who were able to buy a home learned to think and act as housing consumers. By 1960, the typical couple purchased a finished dwelling from a speculative builder instead of hiring the services of a ontractor. Builders now produced for an anonymous market. They earned how to sell, and buyers learned to expect, a comprehensive and standardized package of services that included long-term financing. Such financing required, and buttressed, a Fordist regime of mass production and consumption, and was promoted after 1934 by a new federal agency. It stabilized the economy by pushing families to make long-range spending plans, while shaping their pattern of
monthly expenditures. Increasingly, Americans came to think of homes as commodities, as investments and as means of self-expression. They enacted these assumptions by browsing
through model homes, by making elaborate financial calculations, by borrowing and by taking on home repair and improvement projects. These changes were promoted by the real estate industry and the state, and were soon accepted for the comfort and convenience they offered.

- by Richard Harris
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- Housing, Consumer Behavior, Consumer Research, Mortgages
- by Anthony Orlando
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- Business, Finance, Economic History, Economics

As a homeowner, I am tired of the “Deadbeat” narrative. At this point in our history it is laughable. To prove my point……I am posting this list of settlements, white papers, investigative reports and studies, all pointing to collusion by... more

- by Christopher Breay
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- Real Estate, Corporate Law, Housing, Civil Litigation