For nearly three decades, the World Bank has been publishing studies and providing guidance in housing finance to the countries that were soliciting for technical or financial support in that area. Housing finance plays a critically important role at the intersection of the broader economy and the financial sector. This theme also brings together many aspects of a country’s legal, cultural, financial, economic, and regulatory policies and does so to improve people’s lives.

The work that has been done over those years has helped many emerging economies develop their residential mortgage markets, one hopes without exposing their financial systems to undue risks, unlike the recent U.S. subprime crisis. This evolution has enabled more people, notably among middle-income formal sector workers, all over the world to access housing finance and own a home when that goal had previously seemed impossible. Still, the proportion of the working population in emerging economies that can access finance to invest in housing remains a minority, with adverse consequences on living conditions and the prosperity of many.

The development of residential rental markets also critically depends on the enabling environment of the country (laws, regulations, taxation) and the capacity to raise significant financial resources from investors and financiers. The fiscal treatment of this sector by the public authorities can also play a decisive positive or negative role in expanding (or not) an affordable rental sector.