Wohnungsmarkt und Wohnungswirtschaft

Kofner, Stefan

doi:10.1524/9783486700398

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…The concept of affordability has its origin in the Engel‐Schwabe law, which states that, as household income rises, the portion which is spent on a basic necessity such as housing decreases. From a social policy point of view, affordability thus addresses the concern that low income households will be left with sufficient resources to cover their non‐housing needs, such as food and clothing (Schwabe, 1868; Stigler, 1954; Kofner, 2004). In industrialized nations, especially those with a pronounced social welfare system such as Germany, the basic housing needs will be provided for by the state for those who cannot pay for them.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In LTV terms, this will bring the overall leverage up to around 70 percent. As more commercial banks enter the market for residential real estate loans, LTV ratios in excess of the above are increasingly available but are still far from commonplace (Voigtländer, 2009; Kofner, 2004). The stricter lending environment may make it harder for low income and young households to enter the homeownership market, as they are forced to save longer in order to accumulate the required down‐payment (Tomann, 1996; Metzak, 2001).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Affordability and Germany's low homeownership rate

Bentzien

Rottke

Zietz

2012

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis

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PurposeRelative to comparable industrialized countries, Germany stands out in terms of its low homeownership rate (43 percent). For Germany, it is unknown so far to what extent the low rate of homeownership can be related to housing being unaffordable. One reason for the lack of evidence is the apparent lack of data. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap.Design/methodology/approachBased on a regional dataset of 3.9 million asking prices of housing units collected by a real estate listing engine, the paper applies internationally established affordability concepts to the German housing market. The authors then run a number of cross‐section regressions at the level of the 16 German federal states, using the affordability measures as explanatory variables of the rate of homeownership.FindingsThe results show that the average German household would have to sacrifice a large part of its non‐housing consumption to afford homeownership, especially of single‐family homes. As the regional analysis reveals, certain types of household can even be considered excluded from the ownership market in some particularly unaffordable states with cost burdens of over 50 percent, such as Bavaria. The cross‐section regression results for the 16 federal states affirm the importance of affordability as a determinant of the homeownership rate.Research limitations/implicationsThe official data on ownership rates are rather spotty over time and only available for a single year (2006) for the time frame that is considered for the affordability analysis (2005‐2010). Given the data limitations, the regression analysis has to be confined to a single cross section least squares regression for 2006. The authors are aware that to obtain truly convincing results, it would be necessary to capture the development of ownership rates in different localities in Germany, such as the 16 federal states, over time and to check to what extent the affordability measures can explain any of the variation in ownership rates in a panel data framework with fixed effects for federal states and time. However, the authors feel that the regression results may serve as a starting point; they are better than a set of simple correlations, even if they constitute not a conclusive causal analysis.Practical implicationsAny public policy initiative to raise Germany's homeownership rate will have to address the question of how to make housing more affordable. The recent elimination of homeowner subsidies is working in exactly the opposite direction.Originality/valueThe affordability approach used is technically not new or challenging, but it offers a basis for comparison that has been conspicuously lacking so far for the fourth largest economy of the world. By applying affordability concepts that are well accepted and in use internationally, the authors believe that they can provide at least some suggestive evidence that can further spur research into the affordability issue. While the authors do not break new methodological ground with their paper, they do provide a ...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Affordability and Germany's low homeownership rate

Bentzien

Rottke

Zietz

2012

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis

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“…A systematic analysis of German housing regulations can be found in Führer (1995), Kerner (1996), Kofner (1997, Kofner (1999), and Kofner (2004). However, none of these authors attempts to quantify the regulations.…”

Section: Housing Regulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fifty Shades of State: Quantifying Housing Market Regulations in Germany

Kholodilin

2016

SSRN Journal

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Germany related to the growing housing scarcity in large cities due to intra-and international migration that leads to a geographical mismatch between housing supply and demand. Terms of use: Documents in

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“…Less units per inhabitant means a tighter housing market with renters competing for housing, more units per inhabitant means landlords competing for renters, which should make housing cheaper. Prices for building land, the capital market and costs for building materials also have an impact on the supply side of the markets, as these are upstream markets of the actual housing markets (Kofner 2004). Similarly, the number of building completions and approvals is relevant.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

In search of determinants for quoted housing rents: Empirical evidence from major German cities

Egner

Grabietz

2017

Urban Research & Practice

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Housing policy made a comeback on the German political agenda. Apartment rental prices increased drastically in most major cities over the last years. Despite wide agreement by policymakers regarding the need for regulation of the housing market, there is close to no empirical evidence on the drivers of rent prices. We follow a comparative, quantitative approach to determine the driving factors of rent prices in German cities, taking economic, societal and political variables into account and using time-series analysis. Our results show that the share of students and the local mean income account for differences in quoted rent prices.

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Wohnungsmarkt und Wohnungswirtschaft

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

Affordability and Germany's low homeownership rate

Affordability and Germany's low homeownership rate

Fifty Shades of State: Quantifying Housing Market Regulations in Germany

In search of determinants for quoted housing rents: Empirical evidence from major German cities

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