Affordability Crises in Housing in Britain and Japan

Abstract

Today home ownership is the dominant housing form among the majority of advanced countries. Particularly in Britain, in the 1980s there has been a rapid increase in the number of home owners, resulting in a 66 per cent rate of home ownership in 1992. In spite of this increase, there are still housing problems to be overcome and in a sense the situation has become worse. Naturally, there have been heated discussions about how this process and home ownership itself should be assessed. When we consider this issue, we should not forget the basic fact that housing relates directly to land ownership and this is what distinguishes it from other sectors of the economy. What seems to be lacking in the discussions, however, is an adequate placement of land ownership in considering home ownership or commodification of land in discussing the question of housing.