Western European housing systems and the impact of the international financial crisis

Abstract

The central proposition advanced in this paper is that differences in the structure of housing systems, and specifically the differences between dynamic and static housing systems, are crucial to an explanation of the varying impacts between countries of the international financial crisis. The proposition is illustrated with reference to Ireland, England, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The impacts on housing markets and housing policies are considered and it is shown that these are more significant in dynamic than in static systems. It is argued that whilst the classification of housing systems as dynamic and static adds an important new explanation for the varying impacts of the crisis, this is most usefully viewed as a complementary, rather than an alternative, perspective to other sets of explanations.