Affordable Land and Housing in Asia – A Un Habitat Report

A UN-Habitat report about affordable land and housing in Asia. This report highlights that access to affordable land is a principal barrier to increasing the supply of affordable housing in Asia. Economic growth is pushing land prices up, especially well-located land in urban and inner-city areas. Low- and middle-income households are priced out of land markets in the vast majority of Asian cities. The lack of flexible housing finance for households also severely constrains affordable housing supply and effective demand. Formal housing finance mechanisms are, in general, inaccessible and unaffordable to low-, and many middle-income households. In countries where finance is available, down payment requirements and interest rates are high and loan periods are short, all of which limit the ability to secure formal housing finance.