West European home ownership sectors and the Global Financial Crisis

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) had a severe impact on West and South European economies and in 2009, GDP declines ranged from -5.6% in Germany to -3.6% in Spain. Against the background of strong GDP declines it is quite remarkable that European housing market indicators showed strong international variability. Whereas transaction levels in Germany and Belgium remained quite stable, transactions plummeted in the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland and Spain. Furthermore, repossessions rapidly increased to well over 100,000 cases in the UK and Spain in the first years of the crisis, while in Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, approximately 10,000 owner-occupiers lost their homes. In Germany, repossession levels were actually on the decline after economic turmoil of the early 2000’s. This raises questions about the backgrounds of these international variations in the impact of the GFC. What factors play a role in the German and Belgian immunity of housing transactions and repossessions to the GFC? Furthermore, what measures have been taken in those countries where housing markets suffered most from the impact of the GFC in terms of transactions and repossessions? The overarching objective of this thesis is to gain an improved understanding of factors that determine the impact of the Global Financial Crisis on national home ownership markets. A related objective is to find how societies in the most affected countries have responded to the problems...