Housing Investment Research Articles

Financialising affordable housing? For-profit landlords and the marketisation of socially responsible investment in rental housing

Financialising affordable housing? For-profit landlords and the marketisation of socially responsible investment in rental housing

The Impact of Children’s Gender on Family Housing Assets

China's household asset investment shows the characteristics of real estate concentration, which reduces the short-term risk-resistant ability of households and restricts the consumption ability of residents. This paper puts forward the theoretical hypothesis that “families whose eldest son is a boy have stronger housing investment motives”. A probit model is constructed using data from CHFS2019 for empirical testing. The results find that households whose eldest son is a boy have a stronger propensity to invest in housing than households whose eldest son is a girl. The degree of local sex ratio imbalance and the risk attitude of the head of household also influence investment behavior.

National Overview of Nonprofit Hospitals' Community Benefit Programs to Address Housing.

Housing is a critical social determinant of health that can be addressed through hospital-supported community benefit programming. To explore the prevalence of hospital-based programs that address housing-related needs, categorize the specific actions taken to address housing, and determine organizational and community-level factors associated with investing in housing. This retrospective, cross-sectional study examined a nationally representative dataset of administrative documents from nonprofit hospitals that addressed social determinants of health in their federally mandated community benefit implementation plans. We conducted descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses to examine hospital and community characteristics associated with whether a hospital invested in housing programs. Using an inductive approach, we categorized housing investments into distinct categories. The main outcome measure was a dichotomous variable representing whether a hospital invested in one or more housing programs in their community. Twenty percent of hospitals invested in one or more housing programs. Hospitals that addressed housing in their implementation strategies were larger on average, less likely to be in rural communities, and more likely to be serving populations with greater housing needs. Housing programs fell into 1 of 7 categories: community partner collaboration (34%), social determinants of health screening (9%), medical respite centers (4%), community social determinants of health liaison (11%), addressing specific needs of homeless populations (16%), financial assistance (21%), and targeting high-risk populations (5%). Currently, a small subset of hospitals nationally are addressing housing. Hospitals may need additional policy support, external partnerships, and technical assistance to address housing in their communities.

Decoupling carbon emissions from the economy and low-carbon ecological city construction-based on 196 cities in China

In pursuit of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, significant efforts have been directed towards economic, policy, and technical dimensions in China. This study mainly focuses on the decoupling of urban carbon emissions from economic development, and the low-carbon ecological cities (LCEC) construction, aiming at the early realization of high-quality development of urban carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. We firstly calculated the Tapio decoupling index of economic development and carbon emission, and the construction level of low carbon ecological cities in 196 cities, then constructed a panel quantile regression model to empirically analyze the main influencing factors of the LCEC construction, and finally predicted the LCEC construction levels in 2030 by using a gray prediction model. The research results show that (1) the majority of the cities achieved carbon emissions decoupling between 2005 and 2019, although a few cities in the Northeast still exhibit negative decoupling. (2) The levels of LCEC construction are notably higher in the eastern and southern regions compared to the west and north, with cities showing higher LCEC construction levels also demonstrating more robust decoupling. (3) Promoting carbon reduction and economic development is crucial for enhancing the LCEC construction levels. However, there are regional differences in the impact factors such as housing investment, energy endowment, foreign investment, and environmental focus on the LCEC construction levels within each economic zone. Therefore, each economic zone should formulate tailored development strategies based on its unique characteristics. (4) The Grey prediction model predicts that 69 cities will achieve medium to high levels of LCEC construction by 2030. These results would provide policy recommendations for local governments to promote comprehensive and sustainable urban development.

Hybrid housing models for older Australians: institutional framework and policy challenges

Older people seeking affordable housing in the mainstream housing tenures such as home ownership, private renting and social housing face increasing difficulties in accessing and remaining in appropriate housing. The mainstream housing tenures face pressure due to widening housing affordability problems in home ownership and the private rental sector in many advanced economies, exacerbated by declining investment in social housing. Hybrid housing models are often promoted as affordable and sometimes appropriate and adequate housing options for older people. These models combine aspects of ownership and renting in diverse ways, often posing challenges for tenure-based housing policies. Drawing on the case of Australia, the paper presents the findings of an institutional review of the production, consumption, management, and exchange of land lease communities, often marketed as a more affordable form of housing for older people compared to the more established hybrid form of retirement villages. Noting difficulties in scoping the size and significance of the land lease community sector from current data collections, we find (a) entry of large institutional investors risks undermining the relative affordability of the sector for older people; (b) security of occupancy is a critical policy issue and (c) concentration in rural areas raises concerns around risk of natural disasters and access to aged care and other services. These issues are often overlooked in housing policy and pose challenges for other policy domains including income support, social care, and health services.

Liquid homeownership: Navigating future horizons to turn homeownership into assets in Bucharest, Romania

AbstractThis article examines the financialization and assetization of housing in an Eastern European context by focusing on the specific temporally bounded financial strategies to maintain housing as an asset and vehicle for social reproduction. It proposes the concept of liquid homeownership to account for the varied associations of housing with liquidity and the expectations of future increased exchange value that play an essential role in shaping financial decisions in the present. Drawing on ethnographic research in Bucharest, the article argues that upper‐middle‐class mortgage borrowers strategize their leveraged housing investment by navigating between two future horizons. To ensure that housing is an asset in the long term, mortgage borrowers prefer to evacuate the long‐term of the mortgage contract through medium‐term financial strategies of early repayment. Given the importance attributed to future liquidity from homeownership for providing for old age or securing children's future, the article argues that liquid homeownership, at least for ordinary homebuyers, is a reflection less of short‐term financial interest and more of a long‐term social reproduction need, pointing to the complex intermix of financial calculations and domestic concerns in the context of financialization of housing.

Strategies for Mitigating Urban Residential Carbon Emissions: A System Dynamics Analysis of Kunming, China

To effectively combat environmental challenges, it is necessary to evaluate urban residential building carbon emissions and implement energy-efficient, emission-reducing strategies. The lack of a specialized carbon emission monitoring system complicates merging macro- and micro-level analyses to forecast urban residential emissions accurately. This study employs a system dynamics (SD) model to examine the influence of social, economic, energy, and environmental factors on carbon emissions in urban residences in Kunming, China. The SD model forecasts household carbon emissions from 2022 to 2030 and establishes three scenarios: a low-carbon scenario (LCS), a medium low-carbon scenario (MLCS), and a high low-carbon scenario (HLCS) to assess emission reduction potentials. It predicts emissions will climb to 4.108 million tons by 2030, significantly surpassing the 2014 baseline, with economic growth, urbanization, residential energy consumption, and housing investment as key drivers. To curb emissions, the study suggests enhancing low-carbon awareness, altering energy sources, promoting research and development investment, and expanding green areas. The scenarios indicate a 5.1% to 16.1% emission reduction by 2030 compared to the baseline. The study recommends an 8.3% to 11.4% reduction in MLCS as a practical short-term target for managing urban residential emissions, offering a valuable SD approach for optimizing carbon strategies and aiding low-carbon development.

Integrating rational and irrational factors towards explicating investment satisfaction and reinvestment intentions: a study in the context of direct residential real estate

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the investment decision-making of real estate investors in housing, highlighting the interplay between rational and irrational factors. In this study, investment satisfaction was a mediator, while reinvestment intention was the dependent variable. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative, cross-sectional and descriptive research design was used, gathering data from a sample of 550 residential real estate investors using a multi-stage stratified sampling technique. The partial least squares structural equation modelling disjoint two-stage approach was used for data analysis. This methodological approach allowed for an in-depth examination of the relationship between rational factors such as location, profitability, financial viability, environmental considerations and legal aspects alongside irrational factors including various biases like overconfidence, availability, anchoring, representative and information cascade. Findings This study strongly supports the adaptive market hypothesis, showing that residential real estate investor behaviour is dynamic, combining rational and irrational elements influenced by evolutionary psychology. This challenges traditional views of investment decision-making. It also establishes that behavioural biases, key to adapting to market changes, are crucial in shaping residential property market efficiency. Essentially, the study uncovers an evolving real estate investment landscape driven by evolutionary behavioural patterns. Research limitations/implications This research redefines rationality in behavioural finance by illustrating psychological biases as adaptive tools within the residential property market, urging a holistic integration of these insights into real estate investment theories. Practical implications The study reshapes property valuation models by blending economic and psychological perspectives, enhancing investor understanding and market efficiency. These interdisciplinary insights offer a blueprint for improved regulatory policies, investor education and targeted real estate marketing, fundamentally transforming the sector’s dynamics. Originality/value Unlike previous studies, the research uniquely integrates human cognitive behaviour theories from psychology and business studies, specifically in the context of residential property investment. This interdisciplinary approach offers a more nuanced understanding of investor behaviour.

From vacancy to verdancy? The impact of land options on the timing of vacant lot investment

AbstractLand vacancy is a persistent phenomenon leading to various socioeconomic issues in postindustrial cities. We examine the relationship between the timing of vacant lot investment and land options and compare two investment options using a quasi‐experimental design: housing investment that develops vacant lots into housing, and greening investment that converts vacant lots into gardens and reserves redevelopment options. By compiling a unique lot‐level time‐to‐event dataset based on a large‐scale vacant lot greening program in Philadelphia, we address the questions of whether and how introducing the option of greening investment to vacant lots can expedite initial investment and reduce vacancy. With the greening option, initial investment on vacant lots becomes less irreversible, thus reducing time in vacancy by 50% and elevating the hazard rate of investment by 80%. We test for the presence of the real options channel, identifying a decelerating (accelerating) effect of price uncertainty (price growth rate) on the timing of housing investment and insignificant effects of the factors on the timing of greening investment. Our findings suggest that vacant lot greening as an anti‐blight strategy is more effective to expedite investment in neighborhoods with elevated uncertainty, subdued growth rate, moderately lower income, and heightened vacancy.

Dynamic connectedness among the BRICS markets and the recent pandemic: an application of TVP-VAR approach

PurposeThis study analyses the impact of the Covid-19 on stock market performance of BRICS nations together. BRICS countries comprise almost 30% of the global GDP and around 50% of the world’s economic growth. As BRICS nations have gained the attraction as financial investment destinations, their financial markets have apparently been as potential opportunities for foreign portfolio investors. While there is extensive research on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on individual economies and global financial markets, this paper is among the first to systematically investigate the dynamic connectedness of these emerging economies during the pandemic using the Time-Varying Parameter Vector Autoregressions (TVP-VAR) approach.Design/methodology/approachWe categorise our data into two distinct periods: the pre-Covid period spanning from January 1, 2018, to March 10, 2020, and the Covid crisis period extending from March 11, 2020, to June 4, 2021. To achieve our research objectives, we employ the Time-Varying Parameter Vector Autoregressions (TVP-VAR) approach to assess dynamic connectedness.FindingsOur findings reveal that among the BRICS nations, Brazil and South Africa serve as net transmitters of shocks, while China and India act as net receivers of shocks during the Covid crisis. However, the total connectedness index (TCI) has exhibited a notable increase throughout this crisis period. This paper makes several notable contributions to the academic literature by offering a unique focus on BRICS economies during the Covid-19 pandemic, providing practical insights for stakeholders, emphasising the importance of risk management and investment strategy, exploring diversification implications and introducing advanced methodology for analysing interconnected financial markets.Research limitations/implicationsThe results have important implications for the investors, the hedge funds, portfolio managers and the policymakers in BRICS stock markets. The investors, investment houses, portfolio managers and policymakers can develop investment strategies and policies in the light of the findings of this study to cope up the future pandemic crisis.Originality/valueThis study is one of its kind that examines the dynamic connectedness of BRICS with recently developed TVP-VAR approach across pandemic crisis.

Addressing Housing Issues Among People With Kidney Disease: Importance, Challenges, and Recommendations

Kidney disease disproportionately impacts people with low socioeconomic status, and low socioeconomic status is associated with worse outcomes for people with kidney disease. Unstable housing, which includes housing insecurity and homelessness, is increasing due to rising housing costs. There is mounting evidence that unstable housing and other health-related social needs are partially driving worse outcomes for people with low socioeconomic status. In this perspective, we consider the challenges to addressing housing for people with kidney disease, such as difficulty with identification of those with unstable housing, strict eligibility criteria for housing support, inadequate supply of affordable housing, and flaws in communities' prioritization of affordable housing. We discuss ways to tailor management for people experiencing unstable housing with kidney disease, and the importance of addressing safety, trauma, and emotional concerns as a part of care. We identify opportunities for the nephrology community to surmount challenges through increased screening, investment in workforce dedicated to community resource navigation, advocacy for investment in affordable housing, restructuring of communities' prioritization of affordable housing, and conducting needed research. Identifying and addressing housing needs among people with kidney disease is critical to eliminating kidney health disparities.

The Potential of Residential Property in Poland as an Inflation Hedge Investment

Abstract The research objective of the article was to assess the potential of residential property in Poland as an inflation hedge investment. The study was conducted using innovative measures of the level of inflation hedging. The study was made for Poland’s six largest local residential markets, for two types of investments, for different investment horizons (from 6 to 15 years). The research period adopted was: 3Q2006-4Q2022. In all cities, investments providing only capital gains allowed an attractive inflation hedging level to be achieved. Investments that additionally included rental offered a high inflation hedging level. The variation in the six cities studied in terms of inflation hedging through housing investment was found to be very low. The question of how extending the investment horizon affected the inflation hedging ability was not firmly answered. Frequently, the extension of the investment horizon has been accompanied by an increase in the level of hedging.

The Impact of Public Housing Investments on the Economic Development of Provinces: The Case of Turkey (TOKI)

The Impact of Public Housing Investments on the Economic Development of Provinces: The Case of Turkey (TOKI)

Energy-efficient investments in housing

In recent years, many papers in environmental economics have considered the household’s decision to invest in energy-efficient technologies for their home. The vast majority of these studies have concluded that investment levels in these technologies are sub-optimal for a variety of reasons. In this paper, we synthesize the suggested drivers of these investment wedges and propose a dynamic modeling framework of a housing choice and an energy-efficient-investment choice that includes the proposed channels. We discuss the estimation challenges associated with this model and conclude with suggestions for future research.

Land development and frictions to housing supply over the business cycle

Using a novel data set of U.S. residential land developments, we document that the average time to develop residential properties—which includes both the time spent preparing land infrastructures and construction—is about three years, consistent with sizable lags in housing investment projects. We show that the time to develop is highly dispersed across locations, a finding that helps quantify the housing supply elasticity that is relevant for assessing local housing variations over the business cycle. We also show that incorporating long and dispersed time to develop into an otherwise standard housing investment model helps rationalize some empirical facts on the housing market. Our model implies that policies to boost housing supply are less effective in immediately stabilizing house prices for regions where land development takes a long time.

A Whakawhanaungatanga Māori wellbeing model for housing and urban environments

ABSTRACT Significant effort is underway to address the housing crisis in Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa), including rapid investment in public and community housing. As Māori (the Indigenous people of Aotearoa) face many systemic barriers and impediments to home ownership, delivery and development of housing options and make up a significant proportion of public housing tenants, developing and managing housing and associated neighbourhoods that enable and support Māori wellbeing is of critical importance. To support this, we introduce A Whakawhanaungatanga Māori Wellbeing Model for Housing and Urban Environments – for use by researchers, developers, designers, managers and regulators – that emphasises whakawhanaungatanga (relationship building and creating connectedness) as central to wellbeing outcomes for Māori. Here we outline seven key concepts from Te Ao Māori built into our model, and pose questions to help guide researchers and housing and urban development actors in their respective research and development activities. While the model is primarily intended to contribute to Māori wellbeing outcomes in Aotearoa, it may also be of broader international interest to those working toward wellbeing outcomes in relation to housing and urban environments, particularly for Indigenous peoples.

Parental financial support for housing: the importance of investment homes and family size

Purpose Homeownership for younger generations is exacerbated by the deterioration in affordability worldwide. As a result, the role of parental support in facilitating homeownership requires attention. This study aims to assess the influence of parental wealth and housing tenure as support mechanisms to facilitate homeownership for their children. Design/methodology/approach This study uses data from a representative survey of the New Zealand population. Findings Parents who are homeowners tend to offer more financial support to their children than those who rent. Additionally, the financial support increases when parents have investment housing as well. The results further reveal differences in financial support when considering one-child and multi-child families. The intergenerational transmission of wealth inequality appears to be more noticeable in multi-child families, where parental housing tenure plays a dominant role in determining the level of financial support provided to offspring. Originality/value The insights gained serve as a basis for refining housing policies to better account for these family transfers and promote equitable access to homeownership.

Local housing strategies in Poland as a tool to develop social and affordable housing: barriers for development

Polish municipalities need to align with the trend of social housing development, expanding beyond public housing providers. The paper seeks to diagnose the barriers to developing well-defined housing strategies at the local level in Poland. Based on existing housing strategies of some Polish municipalities and the experience gained during work on a housing strategy for a medium-sized city in Poland, the following impediments were identified: a lack of robust demographic data, insufficient housing inventories, and a need for skilled experts and guidance for structured strategies. Given the impending EU investments in housing, local strategies gain significance, particularly in crisis-affected cities. The forthcoming financial aid for social housing amplifies the necessity for well-crafted housing strategies in Poland.

Regulations on Conditions for Foreigners’ Housing Ownership in Vietnam: Inadequacies and Possible Solutions

In Vietnam, the concept of “settling down, having a good career” becomes an important goal of each individual. It means having a stable place to live can be guaranteed when you get a job. Therefore, home ownership becomes a basic human right. In the current integration trend, when the opening to trade between countries around the world is deepening, the demand for house ownership is not only limited to Vietnamese citizens, but also to foreigners. Vietnam has also recognized the problem of foreigners owning houses in Vietnam, but there are still restrictions on the number of houses, the area of houses owned and other issues. Currently, the Government is implementing a policy to attract investment in housing in order to exploit the development potential of this field in Vietnam as well as to solve the outstanding housing problem and expand the housing market. Therefore, the issue of foreigners’ home ownership becomes an important concern and is one of the research subjects to implement this policy.The article presents the provisions of Vietnamese law, international law on home ownership rights of foreign individuals and organizations in Vietnam, as well as conditions for foreign individuals and organizations to own housing in Vietnam, a guarantee of human rights. In addition, the article also points out to the shortcomings of the national legal regulation, thus making some recommendations to overcome the difficulties of the real estate market and housing development in Vietnam.

Contextualizing the “Spanish dream”: using critical HRM to understand immigrant homeownership in Spain, 2000–2009

PurposeA pronounced rise in postpandemic immigration is creating consumption opportunities and challenges for countries worldwide. Past research has shown that immigrant homeownership indicates advanced consumer acculturation. However, critical factors which differentiate immigrant decisions to purchase a home remain underexplored. This study aims to examine the importance of different identity resources in determining homeownership gaps between immigrant groups in Spain during a dynamic decade.Design/methodology/approachA mixed methods research design with triangulation was used. First, the critical “historical research method” is used to empirically assess 15,465 household-level microdata files from the National Immigrant Survey of Spain. Second, the analysis is corroborated through informant interviews, an evaluation of digital news archives and other historical traces such as relevant advertisements in Spain from 2000 to 2009.FindingsResults provided an account of immigrant homeownership whereby foreign-born consumers leveraged resources to promote social identities aligned with an advanced level of acculturation through housing investment during this period. Furthermore, marketing focused on specific targets of ethnic minority consumers coupled with government policies to promote immigrant homeownership reinforced the “Spanish Dream” as a new paradigm for housing market integration.Originality/valueSpain provides an unprecedented historical context to explain marketing-related phenomena due to a perfect storm of immigration, job availability and integration supports. Contrary to popular wisdom, immigrant consumer homeownership gaps are not solely a result of differences in income and economic mobility, but rather an advanced acculturation outcome driven by personal and social investments in resources that lead to consumer identities.