Macroprudential Policy and the UK Housing Market

Abstract

According to Hartmann (2015), boom–bust cycles in real estate markets have been a major factor in systemic financial crises in the past and therefore need to be at the forefront of macroprudential policy in the future. In this final section, we discuss the macroprudential interest in the housing market. We begin with a review of why housing matters and the rationale for macroprudential interventions, before turning to discuss whether developments in the UK housing market in the decade leading up to the crash posed a genuine threat to the resilience of the UK banks, and we end with an evaluation of three significant policy interventions in the UK housing market since the crash which neatly illustrates one of the key claims in this book—that numerous policymakers have an active interest in the macroprudential agenda.