<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The housing market is not only an important component of the national economy; it is also a place of meeting the basic and fundamental needs for the functioning of households. The structure of housing markets and their performance are primarily driven by local and national factors. This results mainly from the specificity of real estate (primarily from its immobility), historical factors, economic conditions, as well as from institutional environment. However, in the process of integration of the European economies, one can see a growing trend towards the unification of the housing markets.</p><p>The aim of the paper is to assess the scope and scale of convergence processes in the European housing markets. The study covers the main characteristics of the markets, including: the size of the national housing stock and its ownership structure, the importance of residential properties in households’ assets, and the share of housing expenditure in households’ total consumption expenditure. The occurrence of three most popular types of convergence was investigated: beta, sigma, and gamma convergence.</p></abstract>

The housing market is not only an important component of the national economy; it is also a place of meeting the basic and fundamental needs for the functioning of households. The structure of housing markets and their performance are primarily driven by local and national factors. This results mainly from the specificity of real estate (primarily from its immobility), historical factors, economic conditions, as well as from institutional environment. However, in the process of integration of the European economies, one can see a growing trend towards the unification of the housing markets.The aim of the paper is to assess the scope and scale of convergence processes in the European housing markets. The study covers the main characteristics of the markets, including: the size of the national housing stock and its ownership structure, the importance of residential properties in households’ assets, and the share of housing expenditure in households’ total consumption expenditure. The occurrence of three most popular types of convergence was investigated: beta, sigma, and gamma convergence.

Convergence of Housing Markets: European Perspective

Faculty of Economics and Sociology, Department of Investment and Real Estate

Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Convergence of Housing Markets: European Perspective"}

The housing market is not only an important component of the national economy; it is also a place of meeting the basic and fundamental needs for the...

Convergence of Housing Markets: European Perspective

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 190 - 202

Received: Dec 18, 2017

Accepted: Nov 05, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/foli-2018-0027

Keywords
European housing markets, convergence, integration of housing markets, housing market trends

© 2018 Konrad Żelazowski, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Convergence of Housing Markets: European Perspective

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 190 - 202

Received: Dec 18, 2017

Accepted: Nov 05, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/foli-2018-0027

KeywordsEuropean housing markets, convergence, integration of housing markets, housing market trends

© 2018 Konrad Żelazowski, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
European housing markets, convergence, integration of housing markets, housing market trends