# 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