Housing affordability

1.Armenoff, K. (1998), “Shelter poverty: New ideas on housing affordability”, Journal of Urban Affairs, Vol. 20(3), pp.359-362.
2.Beer, A. and Kearins, B. and Pieters, H. (2007), “Housing Affordability and Planning in Australia: The Challenge of Policy Under Neo-liberalism”, Housing Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1, 11–24.
3.Bellal, T. (2009), “Housing supply in Algeria: Affordability matters rather than availability”, Theoretical and Empirical researches in urban management, Vol. 3(12), pp.97-114.
4.Bramley, G. (1990), Access, affordability and housing need. Paper presented at ESRC Housing Studies Conference. Mimeograph:University of Surrey.

“Affordability of owner-occupation brought about by rapidly-rising house price in certain parts of the country, the abolition of double tax relief for unmarried couples, rises in interest rates and economic recession. “

“…that household should be able to occupy housing that meets well-established (social sector) norms of adequacy (given household type and size) at a net rent which leaves them enough income to live on without falling below some poverty standard. (p.16)

Opportunity cost of housing and housing standard, what has to be forgone in order to obtain housing and whether that which is foregone is reasonable

5.Bramley, G. (1994), “An affordability crisis in British housing: dimensions, causes and policy impact”, Housing Studies, Vol.9 (1), pp. 103-124.
6.Bramley, G. (2012), “Affordability, poverty and housing need: Triangulating measures and standards”, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment (Springer), Vol.27. pp. 133-151.
7.Bogdon, A.S. and Can, A. (1997), “Indicators of local housing affordability: Comparative and Spatial Approaches”, Real Estate Economics, Vol. 25(1), pp.43-80.
8.Bourassa, S.C. (1996), “Measuring the Affordability of Home-ownership”, Urban Studies, Vol.33, No.10, pp1867-1877.
9. Chaplin, R. & Freeman, A. (1999),”Towards an accurate description of affordability”, Urban Studies, Vol.36(11), pp.1949-1957.

“Affordability is in association with the rent-to-income measure with household headcount and the mean” (p.1951)

10. Chisholm, S. (2003), Affordable Housing in Canada’s Urban Communities: A Literature Review. Research Report. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 1-60.

“Housing affordability is commonly defined, particularly for public policy purpose, as a relationship between housing costs and income. If housing cost are perceived to be too high relative to household income, then a housing affordability problem is perceived to exist. “(p. 3)

“Housing affordability norms have a long history dating back to a 25 per cent ratio based on one week’s pay each month for housing supplied by factory employees in earlier times” (p.3)

11. Chen, J., Hao, Q. & Stephens, M. (2010),”Accessing Housing Affordability in Post-reform China: A Case study of Shanghai”. Housing Studies, Vol.25 (6), pp.577-901.

“… [H]ousing affordability is simulated in three dimensions: access, the burden of housing cost, and housing-induced poverty; and two indicators:  “(point of entry” trend and “cohort” trend. “(p.580)

“The notion of affordability implied by the ‘gap’-based housing allowance systems and by the ratio approach is that affordability is about more than protecting incomes after housing costs to ensure that there is an adequate level of both hosing and non-housing consumption.

Affordability is also about a balance of expenditure between housing and non-housing items, and high housing expenditure burdens may be of policy concern even if residual incomes remain above the poverty line.”(p. 885).

Affordability

“The ability to access to housing”

 “The burden of housing and non-housing expenditure should be balanced”

“Housing expenditure should not take incomes below a level that is required to maintain an acceptable level of non-housing consumption” (p.887)

12.Chiu, R.L.H. (1996), “Housing affordability in Shenzhen special economic zone: A forerunner of China’s housing reform”, Housing Studies, Vol.11, pp. 561 – 580.
13.Freeman, A., Russell, C., & Whitehead, C. M. E. (1997), Rental Affordability: A Review of International Literature. Discussion Paper No. 88. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University, Department of Land Economy.

“Definitions of affordability concentrate on the relationship between housing expenditure and household income and define a standard in terms of that income above which housing is regarded as unaffordable”

14. Freeman, A., Kiddle, C. & Whitehead, C. (2000), Defining affordability. In S. Monk & C. Whitehead (Eds.). Restructuring Housing Systems: From Social to Affordable Housing? (pp. 44-92). York: York Publishing Services.

“Affordability is concerned with securing some given standard of housing (or different standards) at a price or a rent which does not impose, in the eyes of some third party (usually government) an unreasonable burden on household income. “

15. Friedrichs, J. (1988), Affordable housing and homeless: A comparative view. In J. Fredrichs (Ed.). Affordable housing and the Homeless. New York: de Gruyter.

“…[A]ffordable housing, supplied to a large extent in new housing estates is no longer affordable for many households living there”. (p.6)

“Affordability of housing is-like poverty – – a relative term, depending upon the level and quality of provision a country wants to supply and can supply. (p.6)

16. Fisher, L. M., Pollakowski, H. O. & Zabel, J. (2009), Amenity-Based Housing Affordability Indices. Real Estate Economics, 37 (4), 705-746.
Measure affordability—supply of housing that is affordable to different households in different locations of a metropolitan region.

“Measure divides the income of a hypothetical median household by a hypothetical median price of a dwelling.”

17. Gan, Q. & Hill, R. J. (2009), Measuring Housing Affordability: Looking Beyond the Median. Journal of Housing Economics, Vol.18 (2), pp.115-125.

Housing affordability is perceived in three ways: purchase affordability, repayment affordability and income affordability.

Purchase affordability considers whether a household is able to borrow enough funds to purchase a house

Repayment affordability considers the burden imposed on a household of repaying the mortgage

Income affordability measures the ratio of house prices to income.

“…Defining affordability is the concept of an affordable limit. The affordable limit sets the ratio of the maximum allowable loan to income. “(p.120)

“Housing affordability cure shows for the percentile of households ranked by what percentage total houses “(p.121)

18. Glaeser, E. and Gyourko, J.(2003), “The Impact of Zoning on Housing Affordability”, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review, Vol.9 (2), pp.21–39.
19.Grigsby, W. G.  (1990), Home finance and subsidies in the United States. In D. Maclennan & R. Williams (Eds.). Affordable Housing in Britain and America. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

“Affordability includes a definition of what is regarded as an acceptable standard of housing” (p. 886)

20.Guest, R. S. (2005), “A life cycle analysis of housing affordability options for first home owner-occupiers in Australia”, Economic Record, Vol. 81(254),pp. 237-248.
21.Gyourko, J. & Linneman, P. (1993), “The Affordability of the American dream: an examination of the last 30 years”, Journal of Housing Research, Vol.4(1), pp. 39-72.
22. Haffner, M. & Heylen, K. (2011), User Costs and Housing Expenses. Towards a more Comprehensive Approach to Affordability. Housing Studies, Vol.26 (4), pp.593-614.

“A more comprehensive view on affordability: a combination of the short-term and the long-term concept. “ (p.594)

“Short term affordability, which is concerned with financial access to a dwelling based on out-of-pocket expense”(p.595)

“Long term affordability, which is about the cost attributed to housing consumption. “(p.598)

23. Hancock, K. (1993), Can pay—won’t pay—or economic principles of affordability. Urban Studies, Vol.30 (1), pp.127-145.

“Affordability is concerned with securing some given standard of housing (or different standards) at a price or a rent which does not impose, in the eyes of some third party (usually government) an unreasonable burden on household income” (p.129)

“The answer is that any rent will be affordable which leaves the consumer with a socially-acceptable standard of both housing and non-housing consumption after rent is paid.”(p.144)

“Long-run affordability is the long-run ability to finance housing consumption.”(p.144)
“Opportunity cost of housing about what has to be foregone in order to obtain housing. “ (p.145)

24.Ho, M. H. C. & Chiu, R. L. H. (2002), “Impact of accessibility on housing expenditure and affordability in Hong Kong’s private rental sector”, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, Vol.17, pp.363-383.
25. Hong Kong Housing Authority. (March 2006). Review of Domestic Rent Policy Consultation Paper, Executive Summary. [Retrieved from http://www.housingauthority.gov.hk/hdw/content/static/images/en/aboutus/policy/cdrp06/report_pdf/ha_cdrp_execsum_mar06.pdf]

Measuring tenant’s affordability

Median rent-to-income ratio (MRIR) could be use as a reference.

Rent-to-income ratios of individual PRH households in an ordered sequence.

MRIR shall not exceed 10% following any rent increases

MRIR affected by different changes in rent levels and tenants’ income: CSSA, major improvement in tenants ‘living space, supply of new PRH estates, redevelopment of older estate, exit of higher income tenants and increase in the number of elderly and small householdà not appropriate indicator for affordability.

26. Hulchanski, J. D. (1995), The concept of housing affordability: Six contemporary uses of the housing expenditure-to-income ratio. Housing Studies, Vol.10 (4), pp.471-491.

“A household said to is a housing affordability problem…when it pays more than a certain percentage of its income to obtain adequate and appropriate housing. “

27. Kim, K. & Cho, M. (2010), Structural Changes, Housing Price Dynamics and Housing Affordability in Korea. Housing Studies, Vol.25 (6), pp.839-856.

Housing affordability is conditioned by the access to and the terms of mortgage credit.

28.Kutty, Nandinee K. (2005), “A New Measure of Housing Affordability: Estimates and Analytical Results”, Housing Policy Debate, Vol. 16(1), pp.113–42.
29.Lerman, D. L., and Reeder,W.J. (1987), “The Affordability of Adequate Housing”, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association Journal, Vol.15(4), pp.389–404.
30. Linneman, P. D. & Megbolugbe, I. F. (1992), Housing affordability: myth or reality? Urban Studies, Vol.29 (3/4), pp.369-392.

“Housing affordability encompass home-ownership affordability, as well as rental housing affordability.”(p.370)

“[H]ousing affordability can be viewed as a relationship between home prices and household income.” (p.374)

“Movement in home prices and incomes influence the affordability of home-ownership in the short run. …house prices and incomes tend to move in tandem, suggesting that mortgage rates are critical to long0run affordability.” (p.380)

31. Luffman, J. (2006), Measuring Housing Affordability. Perspectives, Vol.75-001, pp.16-25.

“Traditionally, affordability has been based on a ratio of housing costs to total household income. A household paying 30% or more of its pre-tax income for housing is considered to have affordability problem.” (p.16)
“Housing affordability based on household expenditure, which highlights the attributes of the Survey of Household Spending (SHS).” (p.16)

Renters more likely to experience affordability problems

“Here almost three-quarters of renters did not meet the affordability standard compared with only a quarter of owners.(p.19)

“Renters spending 30% or more of their budget for housing decreases sharply as income increases” (p.20)

32.Lux, Martin (2007), “The Quasi-normative Approach to Housing Affordability: The Case of the Czech Republic” , Urban Studies, Vol. 44, pp. 1109–1124.
33. Maclennan, D. & William, R. (Eds). (1990). Affordable Housing in Britain and the United States. York: Joseph Rowtree Foundation.

“Affordability is concerning some given standard of housing (or different standards) at a price or a rent which does not impose, in the eyes of some third party (usually government) an unreasonable burden on household income.” (p.9)

34.Moore, E. & Skaburskis, A. (2004), “Canada’s Increasing Housing Affordability Burdens” Housing Studies, Vol.19 (3), pp.395-413.

“Monitoring affordability is a means for gauging and predicting the pressures on a population that precipitate changes in the most visible manifestation of a housing problem.”( p.397).

35.Norris, M and Shiels, P (2007), “Housing Affordability in the Republic of Ireland: Is Planning Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?” Housing Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 45–62.
36. Ong, S. E. (2000), “Housing Affordability and Upward Mobility from Public to Private Housing in Singapore”, International Real Estate Review, Vol.1, pp.49-64.

“Affordability usually refers to the ability to rent”(p.49)

“Affordability refers to the ability of the upgrader to service the loan on the private property. “(p.50)

(Affordability) depends on the upgrader’s income and mortgage interest rate

Threshold affordability—threshold upgrader’s ability to repay

37. Pomeroy, S. (2001), “Toward a Comprehensive Affordable Housing Strategy for Canada, Ottawa” Caledon Institute of Social Policy, October, pp.1-30.

“… [A]ffordability problems are created by a combination of two key factors – low incomes and high relative rent.” (p.4)

38. Quale, J. D. (2012), Sustainable, affordable, prefab: the ecoMOD project. Korea: University of Virginia Press.

“…(Housing) affordability problem associated with the problem of income disparity. Income level dropped significantly in the 1979 to 2005 has increased the difficulties for low income family to afford a home.” (p.29)

“For many low to moderate income families and individuals, it is becoming clear that the era of the affordable sing-family detacheddwelling is drawing to a close. “(p.29)

“The ability to save for a down payment has been severely affected as housing prices across the U.S. doubled between 2000 and 2007 while most household income stagnated or dropped” (p.29)

“Housing affordability problem caused by the high poverty rate, race relations, income equity and availability of well-paid job in the discussed city – Charlottesville. “(p.29)

39. Randolph, B. (Ed). (1992). Housing associations after the Act: an assessment of the impact of the 1988 Housing Act on housing association activity in England. Research Report No. 16, National Federation of Housing Association, London.

“Unaffordability in terms of a headcount of working households whose rent to income ratio exceeds 25 per cent. “(p.1)

40. Rea, W., Yen, J. England, J. & Figueroa, R. (2008). The dynamics of housing affordability. Perspectives, 15-26.

“Measuring affordability involves comparing housing costs to a household’s ability to meet them.” (p.15)

“Housing affordability is also a critical input to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) core housing need indicator.” (p.20)

“Affordability means the scale of effective demand for new dwelling supply. “ (p.21)

41.Renaud, B. (1991), ‘‘Affordability, price-income ratio and housing performance: an international perspective’’, Working Paper No. 52, Centre of Urban Planning & Environmental Management, and University of Hong Kong.
42.Smets, P. (1999), “Housing finance trapped in a dilemma of perceptions: Affordability criteria for the urban poor in India questioned ”, Housing Studies, Vol. 14(6), pp. 821-838.
43.Stone, C. M. E. (1993). Shelter Poverty: New Idea of Housing Affordability. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

 “…[A]ffordability interacts with the effects of housing discrimination land use patterns and housing designs to affect women’s, children’s, and men’s needs differentially.”(p.23)

“Affordability is the ability to afford a home, it is a psychological survival needs for shelter.” (p.24)

“[H]ousing affordability…the ability of individuals and households to satisfy their basic needs”(p. 26)

“The implication for housing affordability is that their maximum affordable shelter cost is greater than the amount of their non-cash benefit,” (p.54)

“It is also interesting that affordability has been defined in terms of a social standard, rather than through each household’s defining for it whether it is allocation a reasonable or excessive portion of its income to housing.”(p.57)

44. Stone, M. E. (2006a), “A housing affordability standard for the UK”, Housing Studies,Vol.21 (4), pp.453-476.

“…[D]efines affordability as the opportunity cost of housing vis-à-vis other goods and services. “(p.456)

“Affordability—conceptual and theoretical explorations, examination of the implications of various affordability standards for housing benefit formulas and rent setting in social housing “(p.460)

Housing affordability is measured by residual income

“Normative standard for minimum adequate residual income”(p.454)

45. Stone, M. E. (2006b), Housing affordability: one – third of a nation shelter-poor. In R. G. Bratt, M. E. Stone & C. Hartman (Eds.). A right to housing—foundation for a new social agenda. (pp. 38-60). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

“What we are able to pay for housing determines not only the quality of our dwelling but also the quality of our residential community and indeed whether we have housing at all.”(p.38)

“Affordable housing can only have meaning when these three essential questions are answered: Affordable to whom? On what standard of affordability? For how long?” (p.41)

“Shelter poor scale emerges as a sliding scale of housing affordability – with the maximum affordable fraction of income varying with household size, type and income.”(p. 45)

46. Stone, M. E. (2006c), “What is housing affordability? The case of the residual income”, Housing Policy Debate, Vol.17(1), pp.151-184.

“It is an expression of the social and material experiences of people, constituted as households, in relation to their individual housing situation.” (p.151)

“Affordability expresses the challenge each household faces in balancing the cost of its actual or potential housing, on the one hand, and its non-housing expenditures, on the other, within constraints of its income. “(p. 151)

The residual income concept of housing affordability

 “…[B]ecause of housing’s distinctive physical attributes in comparison with necessities, it cost makes the largest and least flexible claim on after-tax income for most households ( in other words, nonhousing expenditure is limited by how much is left after paying for housing). (p.163)

“…[H]ousehold has a housing affordability problem if it cannot meet its nonhousing needs at some basic level of adequacy after paying for housing.” (p.163).

47. Throns, D. C. (1988), Who gets housed: the changing nature of housing affordability and access in advanced capitalist societies. In J. Fredrics (Ed.). Affordable housing and the Homeless. New York: de Gruyter.

“…[A]bility to gain access to housing,” and “…the capacity of households to afford housing,” (p.29)

The author accessed housing affordability in terms of housing tenure of household between 1911 to 1981, percentage increase in house prices between 1971-1985, mortgage interest rate between 1970-1987, and number of building permits in 1970-1987.

48.Turner, B. (1995), “The New Housing Shortage – Housing Affordability in Europe and the USA ” , Scandinavian Housing & Planning Research, Vol. 12(1), pp. 51-52.
49. UK Parliament. (2002). Britain public record. London: The Stationery Office.

“Affordability is people’s ability to secure housing, to rent or to buy, based on their ability to pay either the rent or the mortgage”

“[H]ousehold with an affordability problem are those “ who cannot meet the market cost of buying or renting housing from their own resources, i.e., those whose housing cost have to be subsidized…”

50. Victorian Department of Sustainability & Environment. (2003). Melbourne 2030 – Planning for Sustainable Growth. Retrieved from www.dse.vic.gov.au/melbourne2030online/

Housing affordability is addressed a number of levels, the Transit Cities program is designed to improve access, amenity and transport in areas of more affordable housing and to maintain affordable stock in areas targeted for improvement.

51. Weicher, J. C. (1977), “The Affordability of New Homes”, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association Journal , Vol.5, pp.209–226.
52.Weicher, J.C. (1978), “New home affordability, equity, and housing market behavior, Journal of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association”, Vol. 6, pp. 395-416.
53.Whitehead, C. M. E. (1991), “From need to affordability: An Analysis of UK Housing Objective”, Urban Studies, Vol.28(6), pp.871-887.

“Definitions of affordability concentrate on this element, i.e.,, they take account of the relationship between housing expenditure and household income and define a standard in terms of that income above which housing is regarded as unaffordable.” (p.875)

“Affordability as the opportunity cost of housing vis-à-vis other goods and services” (p.873)

“[O] nly households who given their income and cost of their housing, could potentially consume the required level of housing without breaking the affordability criteria are regarded as having a [affordability] problem” (p.875)

“..[A]t one extreme affordability can be defined taking account only of housing expenditure and income without any definition of housing stardards”(p.875-876)

It is an expression of the social and material experiences of people, constituted as households, in relation to their individual housing situation.

“ …[T]he definition of affordability may accept the level of expenditure actually incurre by households, relate this to their income and regard all those who spend more than the defined levels as having an affordability problem to which policy should be addressed.” (p.875)

“Affordability,…, emphasizes income and price.”(p.876)

“In the public sector affordability was achieved by providing generous enough susbsidies to local authorities to allow rents to be set at acceptable levels, given average tenant income.” (p.880-881)

“…[A]bsolute concept of housing affordability…based on actual consumption.”(p.881)

54.Whitehead, C. M. E et al. (2009), “Measuring Housing Affordability: A Review of Data Sources”[online], Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research, available from:
http://moodle.technion.ac.il/mod/resource/view.php?id=225396&redirect=1.
55.Wood, A. G. et al. (2005), “Direct subsidies and housing affordability in Australian private rental markets”, Environment & Planning C: Government and Policy, Vol.23, pp.759-783.
56.Wood, A. G. et al. (2006), “Low Income Housing Tax Credit Programme Impacts on Housing Affordability in Australia: Microsimulation Model Estimates”, Housing Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3,pp.361–380.
57.Yamada, Y. (1999). Affordability Crises in Housing in Britain and Japan, Housing Studies, 14 (1), 99-110.

Affordability problems usually associated with commodification process in the United Kingdom.

58.Yang. Z and Shen, Y. (2008), “The affordability of owner occupied housing in Beijing”, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, Vol. 23, pp.317–335.
59.Yuen, B. et al. (2006),“Housing Affordability in Singapore : Can We Move from Public to Private Housing?” Urban Policy and Research, Vol. 24(2), pp. 253-270.