IMF Working Papers

The Housing Cycle in Emerging Middle Eastern Economies and its Macroeconomic Policy Implications

By Samya Beidas-Strom, Weicheng Lian, Ashwaq Maseeh

December 1, 2009

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Samya Beidas-Strom, Weicheng Lian, and Ashwaq Maseeh. The Housing Cycle in Emerging Middle Eastern Economies and its Macroeconomic Policy Implications, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2009) accessed July 19, 2025
Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper examines housing finance and housing price dynamics in selected emerging Middle Eastern economies over the past two decades. It finds that (i) mortgage markets have experienced rapid development, which has led to lower private per capita consumer spending volatility this decade; (ii) a downward price correction occurred in the housing market after 2007, which appears to have bottomed out; (iii) the rental market appears to be largely determined by region-specific economic fundamentals-a youthful working-age population and wealth variables; and (iv) a segregation between self-owned house and rental price dynamics exists in this region, rendering the former more sensitive to the business cycle.

Subject: Business cycles, Consumption, Housing, Housing prices, Mortgages

Keywords: Determination mechanism, House price, Housing price volatility, Price dynamics, Rental price, WP

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    29

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Working Paper No. 2009/288

  • Stock No:

    WPIEA2009288

  • ISBN:

    9781451874334

  • ISSN:

    1018-5941

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