Rental choice and housing policy realignment in transition : post-privatization challenges in the Europe and Central Asia region

Massive privatizations of housing in Europe and Central Asia transition countries have significantly reduced rental tenure choice, threatening to impede residential mobility. Policymakers are intensifying their search for adequate policy responses aimed at broadening tenure choice for more household categories through effective rental housing alternatives in the social and private sectors. While the social alternative requires substantial and well-balanced subsidies, the private alternative will not grow unless rent, management, and tax reforms are boldly implemented and housing privatization truly completed.Urban Housing,Housing&Human Habitats,Municipal Financial Management,Public Sector Management and Reform,Non Bank Financial Institutions

Institutional Real Estate Investment Practices: Swedish and United States Experiences

In recent years, institutional real estate investment activity has experienced major changes in many countries throughout the world. In Sweden, large-scale investment projects have increasingly been dominated by several major financial institutions. As in other places, real estate investment analysis in Sweden has undergone considerable change in terms of rigor, focus, and perspective. This study is the first effort ever to systematically assess the current situation in the market for commercial real estate in Sweden. The study presents the results of a comprehensive 1988 survey of over 200 commercial real estate investment participants in Sweden including insurance companies, pension funds, construction firms, property management firms, and investment companies. The survey results are compared with results reported in the United States and elsewhere within the corporate and real estate capital budgeting literatures. The results reported here can thus be compared cross-sectionally as well as over time across numerous dimensions.