Rent or buy: does the British obsession with home ownership pay off?

Apr 05, 2019 10:21 am UTC| Insights & Views Real Estate

Unlike the Germans, who are a nation of renters, the desire to be a homeowner is firmly rooted in the British psyche. In 2003, the proportion of UK households owning their own home reached a peak of almost 71%. While it...

Berlin's grassroots plan to renationalise up to 200,000 ex-council homes from corporate landlords

Mar 06, 2019 14:09 pm UTC| Insights & Views Law Real Estate

In major cities throughout the world, the price of housing is on the rise: in 2017 alone, prices leaped by 20.5% in Berlin, 16% in Vancouver and 14.8% in Hong Kong. As rents keep going up, activists in Berlin are...

Generation rent is a myth – housing prospects for millennials are determined by class

Jan 04, 2019 16:06 pm UTC| Insights & Views Real Estate

Millennials have been labelled generation rent, as growing numbers of young people are renting their homes for longer periods of their lives than their parents generation. Home ownership and social housing are increasingly...

Shorten's subsidy plan to boost affordable housing

Dec 17, 2018 10:56 am UTC| Insights & Views Real Estate

Institutional investors would receive longterm subsidies to build new dwellings - on condition they rented them out below market rates - under an affordable housing program Bill Shorten is announcing on the first day of...

What's behind the dramatic rise in 3-generation households?

Nov 08, 2018 17:15 pm UTC| Insights & Views Real Estate

In a recent study, I discovered that the number of kids living with their parents and grandparents in what demographers call a three-generation household has nearly doubled over the past two decades. Why has this been...

Coloradans reject restrictions on drilling distances from homes and schools

Nov 08, 2018 16:46 pm UTC| Insights & Views Real Estate

Coloradans rejected a ballot initiative that would have required new oil and gas projects to be set back at least 2,500 feet from occupied buildings. The measure known as Proposition 112 and supported by environmentalists...

Ideas of home and ownership in Australia might explain the neglect of renters’ rights

Nov 04, 2018 14:29 pm UTC| Insights & Views Real Estate

In Australia, when we think of home, we think of ownership. This normalisation of home ownership is reflected in the Great Australian Dream, the belief that its the best way to achieve financial security. This dream is...