Is urban housing becoming a commodity? Reflections on housing financialisation in EU cities

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Property investment and housing affordability in Lisbon and Porto

This study describes how the housing markets in Lisbon and Porto have developed over the past decade, in terms of property investment and housing affordability. Like many EU cities, Portugal's two biggest cities have witnessed significant changes, becoming increasingly attractive to tourists and investors. Foreign direct investment in real estate and construction doubled in the last 10 years. This strongly contributed to the regeneration of inner city neighbourhoods. At the same time, these developments are associated with an increasing socio-spatial segmentation. In 2019, the average number of months until a dwelling is sold or rented has decreased to record low values. In parallel, the years of income needed for families to acquire a home substantially increased. In central Lisbon and Porto, as well as adjoining municipalities in the metropolitan area, the percentage of average monthly income spent on rental costs for the lower classes, can increase above 69%. A number of policies have been implemented to attract investment and to stimulate renovation, as well as to support and increase housing affordability. In response to its impact on house prices and evictions of residents, short-term accommodation for tourists has been progressively regulated since 2014. Nonetheless, in general, housing affordability in both cities decreased for the middle classes and the younger generations, whereas locally driven incomes are not compatible with the more globally driven house and rental price developments

The Future of Cities

This report is an initiative of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the science and knowledge service of the European Commission (EC), and supported by the Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO). It highlights drivers shaping the urban future, identifying both the key challenges cities will have to address and the strengths they can capitalise on to proactively build their desired futures. The main aim of this report is to raise open questions and steer discussions on what the future of cities can, and should be, both within the science and policymaker communities. While addressing mainly European cities, examples from other world regions are also given since many challenges and solutions have a global relevance. The report is particularly novel in two ways. First, it was developed in an inclusive manner – close collaboration with the EC’s Community of Practice on Cities (CoP-CITIES) provided insights from the broader research community and city networks, including individual municipalities, as well as Commission services and international organisations. It was also extensively reviewed by an Editorial Board. Secondly, the report is supported by an online ‘living’ platform which will host future updates, including additional analyses, discussions, case studies, comments and interactive maps that go beyond the scope of the current version of the report. Steered by the JRC, the platform will offer a permanent virtual space to the research, practice and policymaking community for sharing and accumulating knowledge on the future of cities. This report is produced in the framework of the EC Knowledge Centre for Territorial Policies and is part of a wider series of flagship Science for Policy reports by the JRC, investigating future perspectives concerning Artificial Intelligence, the Future of Road Transport, Resilience, Cybersecurity and Fairness Interactive online platform : https://urban.jrc.ec.europa.eu/thefutureofcitiesJRC.B.3-Territorial Developmen

How established parties reduce other parties’ electoral support:The strategy of parroting the pariah

In every democracy, established political parties are challenged by other parties. Established parties react in various ways to other parties’ presence. A key hypothesis in the relevant literature is that established parties can decrease another party’s electoral support by parroting it, i.e. adopting its core policy issue position. This article argues, and demonstrates empirically, that this hypothesised effect mainly occurs in the event that a critical prerequisite is in place. Parroting a party decreases its support only if that party is ostracised at the same time. The article classifies a party as ostracised if its largest established competitor systematically rules out all political cooperation with it. Analysing 296 election results of 28 West European parties (1944–2011), evidence is found for a parrot effect – however, concerning ostracised parties only. On several occasions established parties have substantially decreased another party’s support by simultaneously parroting that party and ostracising it