In housing affordability levels and volatility, there could hardly be a greater contrast than between the UK and Germany. Differences in history, institutions and policies are explored in this paper. Residential housing supply has been far more expansionary in Germany and mortgage credit more tightly regulated. A sensibly regulated rental market and stable German house prices have combined to leave the rental sector with over half of tenures. Policy failures in the UK have resulted in widening intergenerational inequality, increased social exclusion, adversely affected productivity and growth and raised the risk of financial instability. Policy lessons are drawn for the UK, which go far beyond the remit of the immediately responsible Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
AndrewsD., Caldera SánchezA. and JohanssonÅ. (2011), ‘Housing markets and structural policies in OECD countries’, OECD Economics Dept working paper 836.
3.
AronJ., DucaJ.V., MuellbauerJ., MurataK. and MurphyA. (2012), ‘Credit, housing collateral, and consumption: evidence from Japan, the UK, and the U.S.’, Review of Income and Wealth, 58 (3), pp. 397–423.
CameronG., MuellbauerJ.M. and MurphyA. (2006), ‘Was there a British house price bubble? Evidence from a regional panel’, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Discussion Paper 5619.
6.
ChauvinV. and MuellbauerJ. (2018), ‘Consumption, household portfolios, and the housing market in France’, forthcoming in Economie et Statistique/Economics and Statistics.
DiewertW. E., de HaanJ. and HendriksR. (2011), ‘The decomposition of a house price index into land and structures components: a hedonic regression approach’, The Valuation Journal, 6(1), pp. 58–105.
Fernandez-CorugedoE. and MuellbauerJ. (2006), ‘Consumer credit conditions in the United Kingdom’, Bank of England Working Paper 314.
11.
GeigerF., MuellbauerJ.M. and RupprechtM. (2016), ‘The housing market, household portfolios, and the German consumer’, European Central Bank Working Paper 1904.
MaclennanD., MuellbauerJ. and StephensM. (1998), ‘Asymmetries in housing and financial market institutions and EMU’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 14 (3): pp. 54–80.
MuellbauerJ. (1987) “The community charge, rates and tax reform”, Lloyds Bank Review (Oct 1987), p. 7–19
21.
MuellbauerJ. (1987) ‘Anglo-German differences in housing market dynamics: the role of institutions and macro economic policy’, European Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 36, pp. 539–48.
22.
MuellbauerJ. (2005), ‘Property taxation and the economy after the Barker Review’, Economic Journal, 115 (502), March, pp. C99–117.
MuellbauerJ. and MurphyA. (1989), ‘Why has personal saving collapsed?’, Credit Suisse First Boston Research, July, 1989, 26–77.
25.
MuellbauerJ. and MurphyA. (1990), ‘Is the UK's balance of payments sustainable?’, Economic Policy, pp. 348–95, with discussion by Mervyn King and Marco Pagano.
26.
MuellbauerJ. and MurphyA. (1997), ‘Booms and busts in the UK housing market’, Economic Journal, 107 (445), pp. 1701–27.
