## Housing Affordability: A New Dataset

_IMF Working Papers, December 1, 2023_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Housing Affordability: A New Dataset](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2023/12/01/housing-affordability-a-new-dataset-541910)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/publications/wp/issues/2023/12/01/housing-affordability-a-new-dataset-541910/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/wp/issues/2023/12/01/housing-affordability-a-new-dataset-541910/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/wp/issues/2023/12/01/housing-affordability-a-new-dataset-541910/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Nina Biljanovska, Chenxu Fu, Deniz O Igan
- Published: December 1, 2023
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400259746.001

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### Overview and Purpose
- Rapid increase in house prices in the past few years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, raises concerns about housing affordability.
- The price-to-income ratio is a widely-used indicator of affordability, but does not take into account important factors such as the cost of financing.
- Aim: to construct a measure of housing affordability that takes financing and other factors into account for a large set of countries and long period of time.

### Data Coverage and Index Definition
- Dataset covers an unbalanced panel of 40 countries over the period from 1970Q1 to 2021Q4.
- For each country, the index measures the extent to which a median-income household can qualify for a mortgage loan to purchase an average-priced home.

### Key Findings and Comparisons
- Constructed indices are compared to other readily-available measures of affordability (for example, the price-to-income ratio) to gauge performance.
- The evolution of the indices over time is examined to understand relevant drivers of housing affordability.

### Analysis and Methods
- Regression analysis is used to assess the extent to which government housing programs could contribute to improving affordability.

### Subjects and Keywords (as listed)
- Subjects: Expenditure, Financial institutions, Housing, Housing prices, Income, Mortgages, National accounts, Prices
- Keywords: affordability index, Baltics, Eastern Europe, Global, government housing program, household income, Housing, housing affordability, Housing prices, Income, indices in selected country, Mortgages, real estate markets

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## Content in this bundle

- **Working Paper**
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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2023/12/01/housing-affordability-a-new-dataset-541910_