# Similar Origins – Divergent Paths: The Politics of German and Dutch Housing Markets (May 2020) * **Similar Origins – Divergent Paths: The Politics of German and Dutch Housing Markets** * By Alice Cooper and Paulette Kurzer. Published on May 20, 2020, * PDF available (not open access): * **Abstract**: * This article is **a comparative study of Dutch and German housing markets** that shared many commonalities until the early 1990s. * Since the 1990s, the two markets have diverged significantly; with **homeownership, mortgage debt and housing prices much higher in the Netherlands than Germany,** which is partially due to more extensive turn to neoliberalism in housing policy in the Netherlands. * The article also looks into differences in the treatment of private renting versus not-for-profit social housing by governments in each country, and draw attention to mortgage liberalisation after 1993 in the Netherlands, which did not happen in Germany. * **Keywords**: Germany, the Netherlands, Dutch, German, housing market, housing policies, mortgage liberalisation --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://housing-base.journalismarena.eu/access-to-housing/academic-reports-and-papers/similar-origins-divergent-paths-the-politics-of-german-and-dutch-housing-markets-may-2020.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.