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): https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2020.1764541

• 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