Panic Rooms: The Rise of Defensive Homeownership

This paper documents how and attempts to explain why homeowners have adopted an increasingly strategic approach to the defence of the home and the progressively vengeful pursuit of those who invade the home. This approach has been articulated via the political process as well as through a media ‘conversation’ that form a milieu within which defensive homeownership has emerged. It is suggested that a threshold has been crossed marking a transformative moment in which left-leaning calls for understanding have been supplanted by a call for the increasingly vicious defence of home territories. In a broader context of neo-liberalism the transition toward increased privatism, freedom of choice and unfettered agency now closely correspond to the position of homeowners as ‘consumer sovereigns’. Defensive homeownership therefore appears not only as the aspiration of homeowners for safety but also as a result of a complex interrelationship between political, media and ideological systems that have generated strong impressions of risk and victimisation. The paper documents the powerful socio-legal and political discourses which have reinforced territorial instincts while generating a broader culture of fear played out through celebrated cases in the public domain. In conclusion, it is argued that defensive homeownership expresses an aggressive aspect of the socio-political constitution of that tenure and a broader need for the deployment of cathartic public policies in defence of embattled home territories.     

Shocking the Suburbs: Urban Location,Homeownership and Oil Vulnerability in the Australian City

Energy security is receiving increasing attention from governments and scholars at the global and national scale. Petroleum security and rising fuel prices are a challenge for cities whose housing systems are highly dependent on automobile transport. This study assesses transport and socio-tenurial patterns within Australian cities to identify how the combined present and future effects of rising fuel costs, mortgage interest rates and general inflation will be spatially distributed. Using an ‘oil vulnerability’ assessment methodology based on Australian Census data, the study reveals broad-scale mortgage and oil vulnerability across the outer suburbs of Australian cities. The paper concludes with some observations about spatially equitable policy responses to ameliorate the housing and urban impacts of rising petroleum costs.     

Housing Taxation and the Economic Benefits of Homeownership

This paper re-considers the arguments for reforming housing taxation in the UK on the basis of a review of evidence on the macro- and micro-economic effects of homeownership. The paper then examines the political economy of feasible tax reform. This currently involves a context of extreme fiscal pressure and a political system wedded to the housing tax status quo. The paper concludes by suggesting elements of a strategy to progress a much-needed debate on taxation that is consistent with but goes beyond arguments recently made by Shelter and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Housing Market Task Force.     

Housing Inequality in the United States: Explaining the White-Minority Disparities in Homeownership

As the homeownership rate in the United States reached its highest ever level in 2004, the distribution of homeownership remained uneven along racial and ethnic lines. Using data from the 2005–2007 3-Year Sample of the American Community Survey (ACS), this paper employs a multivariate regression model and a decomposition technique to delineate the socio-economic and demographic characteristics as well as the immigration and spatial patterns that shape racial and ethnic inequality in homeownership. The findings reveal three distinct patterns; the Asian-white homeownership gap is explained entirely by differences in immigration and spatial patterns of residence, whereas the disadvantage of blacks and Puerto Ricans is attributable to demographic, socio-economic and unobserved factors. For Mexicans and other Hispanics, all four sources influence homeownership patterns, with socio-economic factors relatively important for Mexicans and spatial variables relatively important for other Hispanics.     

Constructing Homeownership Policy: Social Constructions and the Design of the Low-Income Homeownership Policy Objective

This paper offers a new perspective to explain how and why the U.S. federal government pursued a policy agenda that from the early-1990s promoted homeownership as the preferred housing tenure of choice for low-income households. Using policy design theory (Schneider &; Ingram 1997 Schneider, A. L. and Ingram, H. M. 1997. Policy Design for Democracy, Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.  [Google Scholar]), this paper argues that the social constructions of homeownership, low-income households, and the private mortgage industry were instrumental in the development of policies to increase low-income homeownership. The benefits associated with homeownership, based on long-standing norms around success, stability, and the American Dream, justified government interventions to increase access to private mortgage markets for low-income households. This policy stance, however, did nothing to assist households with maintaining homeownership for the long term. The social constructions embedded in the rationales and implementation of these policies contributed to their failure to sustain homeownership and realize its benefits for low-income homeowners.     

The Relationship Between Homeownership and Life Satisfaction in Germany

The article investigates the relationship between homeownership and life satisfaction in Germany, using German Socio-Economic Panel Study data from 1992 to 2009. The data not only allow controlling for a wide range of variables, but also tackle various measurement problems of previous studies. Ordered logit models support a positive relationship between homeownership and life satisfaction. In addition, regression models with fixed effects also reveal unobserved differences between homeowners and renters. Further results show that homeownership is particularly important for low-income households and that there is a significant interaction between homeownership and the condition of the dwelling as well as homeownership and the financial burden of the household. Overall, the findings indicate that policies aim at a higher degree if life satisfaction should not focus on the promotion of homeownership alone, but also support home maintenance costs.     

Homeownership and Symbolic Boundaries: Exclusion of Disadvantaged Non-homeowners in the Homeowner Nation of Norway

In this article, I introduce the notion of symbolic boundaries to the study of homeownership. Data for the article are qualitative interviews with ‘housing strugglers’ in two cities in Norway, a ‘homeowner nation’. The social categories in question are refugees, people with drug and/or mental health problems and the ‘déclassé’. The analysis reveals patterns that are familiar from studies of homeowner countries; homeownership is associated with safety/security, freedom/autonomy, savings and belonging. Each of these values is explored, and from this examination, I show how homeownership constitutes a symbolic boundary between the ‘worthy’ and ‘less worthy’, and ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. Disadvantaged non-homeowners, who struggle for security and autonomy in private renting or social housing, often find that their exclusion from homeownership is associated with a perceived lack of moral worth and dignity, and with symbolic exclusion.     

Homeownership,Asset-based Welfare and the Neighbourhood Segregation of Wealth

The asset-based welfare approach, which has foremost encouraged homeownership, has led to rising homeownership rates, house prices and household debt levels. While this shift has helped raise the net worth of some among the middle and working classes who own property, the implications for the spatial distribution of wealth in cities have not yet been explored. This paper examines the spatial implications of the rise of policies promoting asset-based welfare, by examining statistically how variables related to homeownership rates and housing prices relate to measures of urban wealth segregation among neighbourhoods. Canadian cites are used as the main case study for the empirical analysis. The findings suggest that while homeownership in general has an equalizing effect, rising rates of homeownership (and to some extent, rising house prices) are associated not with greater spatial equalization and dispersal of wealth, but instead with greater spatial segregation and concentration of wealth within cities.     

Mortgage interest deductibility and homeownership in the Netherlands

This paper considers the growing amount of mortgage interest paid in the Netherlands against the background of its full fiscal deductibility, increasing homeownership rates, innovation in the mortgage market, and changes in the Dutch income tax system. Its main conclusion is that arguments in favor of fiscal deductibility are weak. Since the deductibility puts pressure on the income tax base, it is likely that sooner or later the facility must be limited or abandoned.

What has debt got to do with it? The Valuation of Homeownership in the Era of Financialization

Based on comparative focus group data from Norway, Denmark and England, this article asks why people take on substantial mortgages to become homeowners. It argues that financialization of the housing market has resulted in a widespread investment philosophy at the household level and changed the way people think and talk about “the home”. High levels of mortgage borrowing have become commonplace and are justified by social valuations of owner-occupation based on beliefs around freedom through homeownership. Like previous research, the study shows that homeownership offers social identity, stability and belonging. But, this is wrapped up in an investor’s language, such that the distinction between homes as socially valued living environments and homes as investment objects has become blurred. This makes it difficult – perhaps impossible – for households to assess the risks involved in home purchases.     

On the Path to Homeownership: Money,Family Composition and Low-income Households

In Norway, as in many other countries, homeownership is encouraged politically, and a majority of the households become homeowners at some stage in their life cycle. Many households move house when circumstances change, and it is often at this point that they also make their tenure choice. This paper employs a bivariate probit framework to model the transition rate from renting into homeownership. Using a sample of initial renters, subsequent tenure choice is analysed jointly with the stay-move decision. A particularly important question in this context is whether low-income households face differential constraints on entering owner occupation that could be addressed by policy change. The empirical model includes financial characteristics, household characteristics and changes in household characteristics as explanatory variables. Changes in household composition are particularly important in explaining variations in both tenure choice and mobility. Hence, the common practice of estimating housing market behaviour using a panel of intact households potentially obfuscates important determinants of that behaviour. The paper proceeds by using the equivalent of a Chow test to show that a hypothesis of equal coefficients in samples of low- and high-income households is firmly rejected. Thus low-income households do behave differently. Short-term variations in income appear to have little effect on people's capacity to enter owner occupation. However, low-income households are more dependent on past savings for successful entry. This suggests a rather different policy approach if owner occupation is to be expanded.     

‘The party’s over’: critical junctures,crises and the politics of housing policy

The key argument set out in this article is that historical and comparative forms of investigation are necessary if we are to better understand the ambitions and scope of contemporary housing interventions. To demonstrate the veracity of our claim, we have set out an analysis of the UK housing polices enacted in the mid-1970s as a basis for comparison with those pursued 40 years later. The article begins with a critical summary of some of the methodological approaches adopted by researchers used to interpret housing policy. In the main section, we present our critical analysis of housing policy reforms (implemented by the Labour government between 1974 and 1979) noting both their achievements and limitations. In the concluding section, we use our interpretation of this period as a basis to judge contemporary housing policy and reflect on the methodological issues that arise from our analysis.     

Housing Allowance and the Recipient's Homeownership: Evidence from a Panel Data Study in Sweden

This paper investigates whether housing allowance affects recipients' tenure choice in Sweden. To answer this question, a two-stage conditional maximum likelihood probit (2SCMLP) model is applied in a panel data setting to simultaneously control for individual heterogeneity, state dependence and endogeneity. The empirical study is based on administrative data of housing allowance recipients living in three major metropolitan areas of Sweden between the years 1994 and 2002. The results indicate that the housing allowance positively affects recipients' homeownership propensity in Sweden. Therefore the worry of a ‘rental trap’ is dismissed within the Swedish housing allowance system. Instead, we conclude that the Swedish housing allowance system is doing a fairly good job in supporting low-income households to obtain and maintain their homeownership. Furthermore, no evidence was found to indicate that the reform of the Swedish housing allowance system in 1996–97 essentially changed this fact.     

Translation and Materiality: The Space of Invention Between Designing and Building

The "Ethereal Theatre" is a portable theater designed and built by Temple University students for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival's annual summer celebration of dance, theater, and performance art. The studio challenged conventional modes of designing/building by questioning the projective relationship between drawing and building. Within a six-week time frame, students designed through the entire drawing/building process, constructing a continuous space of invention as they went. Conceptually as well as physically, the theater became an exquisite corpse (of constructions).     

Translation and Materiality: The Space of Invention between Designing and Building

Abstract

The “Ethereal Theatre” is a portable theater designed and built by Temple University students for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival's annual summer celebration of dance, theater, and performance art. The studio challenged conventional modes of designing/building by questioning the projective relationship between drawing and building. Within a six-week time frame, students designed through the entire drawing/building process, constructing a continuous space of invention as they went. Conceptually as well as physically, the theater became an exquisite corpse (of constructions).     

Housing Careers,House Price Dispersion and the Housing Market Multiplier

Housing markets reflect our housing consumption profile over the life cycle. As we age, marry and have kids, we seek larger dwellings and to a greater extent owner-occupied housing. The up-trading process has two key characteristics: first, it is equity induced. Second, it impacts both the supply and demand sides of housing markets. This is our point of departure. The paper combines a housing ladder with a house price index to show how up-trading amplifies shocks and introduces a multiplier into the housing market. The interplay between market segments results in up-trading induced price dispersion and a price response in the segments on top of the ladder that exceeds those of segments further down, even when shocks are equal across market segments. Finally, as up-trading impacts both housing supply and housing demand, even balanced shocks to net demand might impact house prices. Focusing on different market segments, shocks to demand might have both direct (the size effect) and indirect (the up-trading effect) effects on the house price index. This paper highlights policy options at a finer level when in need of stimulating or dampening house price cycles.     

Housing Market Renewal in Liverpool: Locating the Gentrification Debate in History,Context and Evidence

This paper places the Housing Market Renewal programme in Liverpool in its historical context, highlighting a mismatch between the supply and demand for housing which has existed for four decades. This disequilibrium produced an environment where successive waves of neighbourhood abandonment occurred from the late 1970s despite significant public policy interventions. The implementation of the Housing Market Renewal programme has stimulated a debate about the extent to which the public sector interventions are leading to the gentrification of poor neighbourhoods. The paper finds that there is no evidence of gentrification in older neighbourhoods, however, inflows of capital rather than middle-class residents have altered the physical development of the city to an extent that the housing choices of all income groups have been affected. The paper concludes that critical gentrification research should take account of historical development and wider housing market change to remain relevant to the debate about the changing social and economic structure of cities.     

共享的空间和生活——瑞士苏黎世住房合作社Greencity B3S住宅设计研究和居住体验

随着中国房地产行业降温,住房将有望逐步回归居住属性,也为产权模式和住宅设计类型的探索提供新的契机。20世纪80年代以来,瑞士通过积极促进合作建房模式的发展,提供高质量平价住房,缓解了房地产过热带来的社会问题。本文通过总结笔者在苏黎世住房合作社6年的居住经历,梳理合作建房模式在公平性、合作性、社会性和可持续性方面的贡献,并解读其倡导的“共享空间”和“共享精神”,探讨建筑空间、住宅类型、邻里关系和生活方式之间的关系,希望能为中国房地产行业和居住模式的升级和发展提供新思路。     

Housing Policy,Wealth Formation and the Singapore Economy

This paper evaluates the contribution of housing policy in Singapore to financial sector development, housing wealth formation and macro-economic performance, both retrospectively and prospectively. It provides an overview of past housing policies and traces the linkages to the financial sector. Housing policy as effected through the Housing and Development Board and the Central Provident Fund (CPF) hampered the development of the commercial housing loans sector and domestic financial markets, but contributed to the overall growth and stability of the housing loans market and associated financial institutions. Housing policy and the trend of housing asset inflation contributed significantly to the formation of both gross and net housing wealth. Economic growth has not suffered from the heavy emphasis on housing investment although various policies that resulted in exogenous shifts in housing demand contributed to increased housing price volatility in the short term. The structure of the housing loans market has also allowed the CPF contribution rate to be more effectively used as an instrument for macro-economic stabilisation.     

Perceived Risk,Anticipated Regret and Post-purchase Experience in the Real Estate Market: The Case of China

The level of customer satisfaction with real estate is revealed to be low in many countries, and home buyers are even more likely to suffer negative experiences, such as perceived risk and regret, due to the current worldwide depression of property markets. Unlike most previous studies about housing satisfaction which focused on the effect of object housing and neighbourhood attributes, this paper aims to gain more insight into housing experiences from customers’ perspectives, exploring the determinants of anticipated regret and its effect on post-purchase experience. In the case of the property market in China, it was found that perceptions of risk, importance, irreversibility and difficulty in home buying evoked anticipated regret, which in turn aggravated experienced regret and dissatisfaction directly or via upward counterfactual thinking. Moreover, the dimensional structure, antecedents and cross-cultural differences of perceived risk among home buyers were studied.