Markets and housing finance
By: Veronica Cacdac Warnock, Francis E. Warnock.
Contributors: Warnock, Francis E.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- no. 13081.; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper no. 13081.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 30
Subjects: Housing -- Finance; Loans -- Housing; Housing -- Developed countries; Housing -- Developing countries
Description: We examine the extent to which markets enable the provision of housing finance across a wide range of countries. Housing is a major purchase requiring long-term financing, and the factors that are associated with well functioning housing finance systems are those that enable the provision of long-term finance. Across all countries, controlling for country size, we find that countries with stronger legal rights for borrowers and lenders (through collateral and bankruptcy laws), deeper credit information systems, and a more stable macroeconomic environment have deeper housing finance systems. These same factors also help explain the variation in housing finance across emerging market economies. Across developed countries, which tend to have low macroeconomic volatility and relatively extensive credit information systems, variation in the strength of legal rights helps explain the extent of housing finance. We also examine another potential factor--the existence of sizeable government securities markets--that might enable the development of emerging markets' housing finance systems, but we find no evidence supporting that.
Notes: "May 2007"

Includes bibliographical references (p. 20-23).

Also available in PDF from the NBER world wide web site (www.nber.org).