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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2022
Homes last for a century but have to be paid for sooner. Nineteenth-century buy-to-let rental was pervasive and depended on rolling credit. Interest rates and local taxes push it into a terminal slump even before 1914. Socially responsible and philanthropic housing was not affordable. After WW1 government policies, and not-for-profit finance extended both public housing and homeownership. German-speaking Europe and Scandinavia achieved secure rental and stable house prices. US government saved borrowers during Great Depression with guaranteed mortgage finance and continues to support house purchase. Home ownership is a privileged asset, but one-third remain excluded. Easy credit post-1980 inflated house prices caused financial collapse, widespread evictions, and unaffordable housing. Is prosperity an illusion? Housing is the largest consumer expenditure and its cost rises faster than incomes. Rising land values initially reduced inequality and then increased it. Home ownership underpinned democracy, and both are now in crisis.
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