Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Masters of Technology degree in Cost and Management Accounting, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / The National Credit Act No. 34 of 2005 (NCA) was introduced by the South African government mainly to bring about accessibility to credit markets, protect consumers from malpractices and market abuses by credit providers and reduce consumer over indebtedness. As a result, credit providers are compelled to apply stringent rules and regulations when assessing a credit consumer’s affordability prior to granting home loans. This study aims at investigating the impact of the NCA on the affordability of home loans within the Pinetown metropolitan area. The literature review presents an overall view of affordability of home loans in developed and emerging countries and also provides an in-depth explanation of factors that affect affordability of home loans in South Africa. The predominant factors, amongst others that hinder the housing market, are: an increase in house prices; elevated interest rates and household debt which include inflation, transportation cost and low wage increase. A mixed methods approach was utilized for the research, analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data. Respondents (home loan borrowers) completed a questionnaire by indicating if assessments were conducted in terms of their affordability prior to the approval of their home loan and their view on the impact that the NCA had on their home loan. The data suggested strongly that credit providers had conducted proper credit and affordability assessments prior to granting home loans and that most home loan borrowers’ level of debt had remained stable since acquiring their home loans as they continue to meet their debts. An overall analysis revealed that the application of the NCA had a positive impact on the affordability of home loans in the research area and that compliance with NCA, when granting credit, resulted in the reduction of reckless lending, a decline in the level of consumer indebtedness and a reduction in payment default.

Para analisar a evolução da produção habitacional privada é necessário compará-la ao comportamento da demanda, que, neste caso, tem a formação de domicílios como uma de suas principais componentes. Analisando o mercado habitacional brasileiro, tem-se uma clara tendência de incremento no número de unidades produzidas após o final da década de 70, resultado do crescimento populacional e da forte atuação do Banco Nacional da Habitação (BNH), principal fomentador deste setor naquele período por meio do Sistema Financeiro de Habitação (SFH). No entanto, nas duas décadas subseqüentes, mesmo com a continuidade do incremento de domicílios no país, a produção de unidades experimentou um período de retração. Esta nova condição provocou um descolamento entre a produção habitacional privada e a sua principal componente de demanda: a formação de domicílios. Após a deterioração do ambiente econômico e a extinção do BNH, o mercado de empreendimentos imobiliários habitacionais sofreu com a falta de direcionamento de recursos para o setor. Esta condição somente se alterou a partir de 2002, com alterações na dinâmica do SFH e de uma melhora no ambiente econômico de forma geral, que, em conjunto, contribuíram para o regresso de recursos ao mercado habitacional e impactaram positivamente a produção de novas unidades. Em 2006 foram realizadas as primeiras aberturas de capital dos empreendedores do setor, o que trouxe ainda mais recursos para o mercado e elevou o nível da produção habitacional privada a outro patamar. Este trabalho realiza uma revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema demanda habitacional e suas interfaces com o ambiente econômico. A partir da análise da produção habitacional privada na cidade de São Paulo de 1998 até 2008 frente às variáveis condicionantes selecionadas: formação de domicílios, renda, oferta de recursos, custos do financiamento habitacional, preço e taxa de atratividade são interpretadas as fontes de distorção que provocaram o descolamento entre a formação de domicílios e a produção habitacional privada no período. / When analyzing the residential real estate market one of the main factors that influence its behavior is the demand, which has a strong relation with the household formation. According to the Brazilian housing market history, it is possible to notice an upward trend after the end of the 70´s, which was positively influenced by the population growth and the strong performance of the Banco Nacional da Habitação (BNH) - the main financial institution player responsible to support the sector in that period. However, in the next two decades, even considering the Brazilian household increase, the residential real estate market faced a decrease in the new offer of units causing a gap between the housing construction and its main demand component: the household formation. After the economic turmoil and the extinction of the BNH, the residential real estate market had no access to sources of funds to support the business. This scenario started to change in 2002, after an improvement in the Brazilian economic conditions and in the SFH, which ended up with an increase in the availability of funds to the sector, a better business environment and a growth in the housing construction. In 2006 the first developers went public bringing more funds to the sector and leading the housing construction to a new level. This paper analysis the academic works state of art regarding the housing demand and its interfaces with the economic environment. The causes of the gap between the housing construction and the household formation are identified according to the behavior of the variables selected: household formation, income, availability of funds, financing costs, price and capitalization rate.

by Ng Pui-wah, Gary. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Bibliography: leaf 76. / ABSTRACT --- p.i / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter ´Ø --- Objectives / Chapter ´Ø --- Application of Demand Forecast / Chapter ´Ø --- Organisation of Paper / Chapter II. --- THE RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY MARKET --- p.4 / Chapter ´Ø --- An Overview of the Hong Kong Property Market / Chapter ´Ø --- The Small-to-medium Sized Residential Property Market / Chapter III. --- THE HOME MORTGAGE MARKET IN HONG KONG --- p.15 / Chapter ´Ø --- Definitions / Chapter ´Ø --- Typical types of Mortgage Payments / Chapter ´Ø --- Source of Fund / Chapter ´Ø --- Market Structure 一 A Commercial Bank Perspective / Chapter IV. --- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK --- p.26 / Chapter ´Ø --- Consumer Demand Theory / Chapter ´Ø --- Economic Model / Chapter ´Ø --- The Dependant Variable / Chapter ´Ø --- The Independent Variables / Chapter V. --- DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS --- p.37 / Chapter VI. --- CONCLUSIONS --- p.65 / Chapter ´Ø --- Income and Substitution Effect / Chapter ´Ø --- Elasticity of Demand / Chapter ´Ø --- Commercial Bank Prospect / Chapter ´Ø --- Other Application / Chapter ´Ø --- Limitations / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.76 / APPENDICES --- p.78 / Chapter 1. --- List of Professionals Interviewed / Chapter 2. --- Data on Independant Variables / Chapter 3. --- Regression Results Using December Data / Chapter 4. --- Regression Results Using June Data / Chapter 5. --- Regression Results Using both December & June Data / Chapter 6. --- Regression Results Using Nominal Interest Rate

Thesis. 1975. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 422-431. / Ph.D.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Built Environment (Housing) / A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Built Environment (Housing) / In South Africa, there is a group of families that live in small four-room houses that were transferred to them by the apartheid regime in 1978. As elsewhere in the developing world, many of these families are extended families which live together because they do not have any other options. This study explores the housing needs and living conditions of the Ndala family and three other extended families living in or near Pimville, Soweto. Structured interviews, observations and evaluation research are utilised to determine the extent to which poor extended families in South Africa are excluded from housing finance. Literature discussing self-help housing, livelihoods, poverty and enablement is presented in order to construct a theoretical framework, after which an overview of housing finance arrangements in the developed world, developing countries and South Africa in particular provides the backdrop against which the findings are discussed. The findings and analysis demonstrate that extended families such as those included in the study fall into a gap in the provisioning of housing finance in South Africa. They do not qualify for government housing assistance, and they also cannot obtain loan finance from banks because they do not meet the strict lending criteria. As a result, the extended families turn to non-conventional sources of income and finance such as rental income, loans from relatives and stokvel funds in order to survive and in some cases extend their houses. It is recommended at the end of the study that South Africa review its current housing policies. Specifically, the study recommends that a new strategy called “rent a room” be put into place in order to assist poor extended families like the Ndalas.

With the 1980s, as a result of economic and financial deregulation policies, housing finance systems in most countries have had great transformations and have become market-oriented. Recently, in Turkey, a draft law was submitted to the parliament which can be regarded as an attempt to integrate housing finance to capital markets through the establishment of secondary market for housing loans extended by commercial banks. In this thesis, it is aimed to evaluate the role of housing loans extended by commercial banks on housing finance in Turkey, to assess the prospective legal regulation in terms of lenders and borrowers of housing loans and to discuss the anticipated impacts of this scheme to the commercial banks, the housing loans and borrowers within the context of global trends in housing finance. For these purposes, housing files extended by commercial banks have been examined and in-dept interviews have been conducted with interviewees from commercial banks, Capital Market Board and Housing Development Administration. As a result, it is found out that the role of housing loans extended by commercial banks is very limited in housing finance in Turkey and only high income groups can access these loans. Moreover, it is explicit that the housing finance scheme in the draft law is entirely market-oriented and targets the middle and upper income groups. On the other hand, such a policy orientation is quite problematic and paradoxical in that / the housing problem in Turkey is most dramatically felt by the lower middle and low income groups.

An efficient housing finance system has significant importance both in meeting the housing needs of individuals and in reinforcing the development of the construction, finance and other related sectors of an economy. Today, developed countries have advanced housing finance systems in which funds flow from savers to home-buyers by the mortgage markets. On the other hand, despite its recognized economic and social importance, housing finance often remains under-developed in developing countries mainly due to the lack of macroeconomic stability. Turkey, being a developing country, has made an important step towards the development of a mortgage system with the passage of the new Mortgage Law by the Parliament. Accordingly, the purpose of this thesis is to examine the applicability of mortgage system in Turkey. For this purpose, housing finance systems of some developed and developing countries are reviewed, and the housing finance system in Turkey is explained. Further, causality between the total amount of housing loans issued, inflation and nominal interest rates in Turkey is analyzed with the Toda-Yamamoto VAR approach. VAR analysis shows the negative impact of nominal interest rates on the total amount of housing loans issued in Turkey. To sum up, considering its economic and social environment, Turkey has adapted best international experiences, and it is possible for a mortgage system to develop in the country by the new mortgage legislation combined with the lower interest rates as inflation declines.

Para analisar a evolução da produção habitacional privada é necessário compará-la ao comportamento da demanda, que, neste caso, tem a formação de domicílios como uma de suas principais componentes. Analisando o mercado habitacional brasileiro, tem-se uma clara tendência de incremento no número de unidades produzidas após o final da década de 70, resultado do crescimento populacional e da forte atuação do Banco Nacional da Habitação (BNH), principal fomentador deste setor naquele período por meio do Sistema Financeiro de Habitação (SFH). No entanto, nas duas décadas subseqüentes, mesmo com a continuidade do incremento de domicílios no país, a produção de unidades experimentou um período de retração. Esta nova condição provocou um descolamento entre a produção habitacional privada e a sua principal componente de demanda: a formação de domicílios. Após a deterioração do ambiente econômico e a extinção do BNH, o mercado de empreendimentos imobiliários habitacionais sofreu com a falta de direcionamento de recursos para o setor. Esta condição somente se alterou a partir de 2002, com alterações na dinâmica do SFH e de uma melhora no ambiente econômico de forma geral, que, em conjunto, contribuíram para o regresso de recursos ao mercado habitacional e impactaram positivamente a produção de novas unidades. Em 2006 foram realizadas as primeiras aberturas de capital dos empreendedores do setor, o que trouxe ainda mais recursos para o mercado e elevou o nível da produção habitacional privada a outro patamar. Este trabalho realiza uma revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema demanda habitacional e suas interfaces com o ambiente econômico. A partir da análise da produção habitacional privada na cidade de São Paulo de 1998 até 2008 frente às variáveis condicionantes selecionadas: formação de domicílios, renda, oferta de recursos, custos do financiamento habitacional, preço e taxa de atratividade são interpretadas as fontes de distorção que provocaram o descolamento entre a formação de domicílios e a produção habitacional privada no período. / When analyzing the residential real estate market one of the main factors that influence its behavior is the demand, which has a strong relation with the household formation. According to the Brazilian housing market history, it is possible to notice an upward trend after the end of the 70´s, which was positively influenced by the population growth and the strong performance of the Banco Nacional da Habitação (BNH) - the main financial institution player responsible to support the sector in that period. However, in the next two decades, even considering the Brazilian household increase, the residential real estate market faced a decrease in the new offer of units causing a gap between the housing construction and its main demand component: the household formation. After the economic turmoil and the extinction of the BNH, the residential real estate market had no access to sources of funds to support the business. This scenario started to change in 2002, after an improvement in the Brazilian economic conditions and in the SFH, which ended up with an increase in the availability of funds to the sector, a better business environment and a growth in the housing construction. In 2006 the first developers went public bringing more funds to the sector and leading the housing construction to a new level. This paper analysis the academic works state of art regarding the housing demand and its interfaces with the economic environment. The causes of the gap between the housing construction and the household formation are identified according to the behavior of the variables selected: household formation, income, availability of funds, financing costs, price and capitalization rate.

An increasing number of people are in need of housing that would improve long-term tenure for them. Private ownership is a well-known incentive for peoples’ participation in housing programmes. The current difficulties in obtaining credit for housing, following the global economic crisis, show that private individual home-ownership is not effective enough in addressing the housing needs of the low and middle income groups. As a result of this, the need to find an option that will solve the housing needs of the people became intense. However, the implementation of the co-operative housing delivery option in South Africa has not been successfully implemented as a result of the actions or the inactions of the role players. The study sought answer to the causes of the inability to successfully implement the co-operative housing approach through the use of ‘triad model’ that has to do with the ideology of co-operatives, the praxis and the organisational structures of the various housing co-operatives. The study was domiciled in a pragmatic paradigm, using the mixed methods research approach by conducting a three-stage research whereby convergent parallel design was adopted as the methodology. Questionnaires were administered to the chairpersons of the housing co-operatives identified in this stage one of the study. Stage two consisted of conducting interviews with chairpersons of six housing co-operatives using the purposive non-probability sampling method. The final stage was the survey among the members of the housing co-operatives interviewed. It was discovered, inter alia, that the membership of housing co-operatives was not voluntary; policy and legislative documents on social housing were biased against the co-operative housing approach; limited understanding of the co-operative approach exists among officials of government responsible for the implementations and a lack of training to members of the housing co-operatives by agencies of government responsible for propagating the approach was evident. Based on the findings, framework for sustainable housing co-operatives in South Africa was proposed from the strategies identified. The strategies identified were classified into the following factors: Policy and legislation; support services; education, training and information; and governance.

La présente thèse offre une nouvelle explication des variations du taux de propriété de différents pays en mobilisant de larges parts de la littérature existante en histoire urbaine et des données portant sur les villes. La littérature existante a souvent son origine dans l’opposition des pays germanophones et des pays anglophones, les derniers montrant un taux de propriété systématiquement plus élevé que les premiers. Par une étude historique comparative des cas américain et allemand, considérés comme exemplaire pour les types de pays, la thèse essaie de répondre à la question que pose l’écart persistant entre les taux de propriété allemand et américain. La présente thèse argue que c’étaient des différences en organisations urbaines au 19e siècle et de différentes institutions de financement de logement et de construction qui ont mis les pays sur des trajectoires différentes. Elle maintient que le laissez-faire de certaines municipalités faibles a plutôt privilégie des villes périurbanisées sous formes de maisons individuelles aux États-Unis, alors que les municipalités corporatistes allemandes tendaient à mener aux villes compactes d’immeubles de rapport ; que le développement de sociétés d’épargne-logement américaines favorisait le financement de maisons en propriété individuelle, alors que les banques hypothécaires allemandes et les associations de logement privilégiaient les immeubles de location ; que l’émergence d’une production Fordiste des pavillons standardisés facilitait la vulgarisation de la propriété, alors que la production artisanale allemande la limitait. Une fois ces structures établie – ainsi va l’argument faisant allusion à la dépendance au sentier – elles furent perpétuées par des mécanismes de pouvoir de groupes d’intérêt, de fonctionnalité économique, alors que des processus de conversion du locatif en propriété ainsi que de la périurbanisation pouvaient contrecarrer cette inertie structurelle. / The thesis gives an answer to the question of why different countries ended up with different rates of homeowners and tenants in the 20th-century. The literature identifies Germanspeaking countries of low homeownership rates around 40% and English-speaking countries of high homeownership rates of more than 60%, with France falling in between the two groups. Moreover, most of these differences have persisted through the second half of the 20th-century and can be shown to reach back to different urban homeownership rates around 1900. The homeownership-question is of importance beyond the mere question of tenure as studies have associated homeownership questions with stability in financial crises, with embourgeoisement of the working-class in life-style, attitudes and voting behavior or with different unemployment rates. Existing explanations have used post-1980 international, regional or individual data to explain homeownership differences through socio-demographic, economic or urbanization differences, through a public-welfare/homeownership trade-off or else through cultural preferences. These explanations fail to account, however, for the persistent country differences that existed already prior to the 1980s and prior to government intervention in housing. The thesis, by contrast, goes back to 19th-century differences of urban organization, housing finance and the construction sector to claim that countries were historically set on different housing trajectories establishing differences hard to reverse in later periods. The US and Germany are chosen for historic case studies of the often opposed country groups. France is included to use the variables found for explaining why a country of similar welfare type as Germany kept a persistently higher urban homeownership rate. The thesis claims that different complementary institutions in city organization, the housing finance and construction industry locked countries into inert physical and institutional structures of either the compact tenement city-form in Germany or the suburbanized form of a city of homes like in the United States. More concretely, functional complementarities of public welfare cities, housing cooperatives, mortgage banks and a raftsmanship production of solid single-unit homes led to the German tenant-dominance, whereas private cities, savings and loans (SLAs) and a Fordist mass production of single-family homes created the American production regime in favor of more accessible homeownership. Though the thesis establishes the argument for Germany and the US in historic case studies, it tries to make plausible that it can be extended to other German- and English-speaking countries. The innovation of the thesis concerning the particular explanatory puzzle lies in its reference to relevant historical prior causes, its inclusion of the urban level of analysis and the combination of three institutional factors – urban organization, housing finance, construction – that even singly have not been put forward yet in comparative explanations. The thesis contributes to the literature on path dependencies that identifies distant occurrences as longterm causes for hard-to-reverse historical trajectories. On a theoretical level, the study contributes to research in a yet little noticed type of market, i.e. markets for durable goods whose use stretches over time, and which therefore requires history-directed explanations.