IMFBlog2021-05-13T12:50:13-04:00March 29, 2021|
By Andrea Deghi and Fabio Natalucci
عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
Empty office buildings. Reduced store hours. Unbelievably low hotel room rates. All are signs of the times. The containment measures put in place last year in response to the pandemic shuttered businesses and offices, and dealt a severe blow to the demand for commercial real estate—especially, in the retail, hotel, and office segments. […]
IMFBlog2020-02-12T16:26:44-05:00February 12, 2020|
By Deniz Igan
In Spain, private sector credit as a share of GDP almost doubled between 2000 and 2007. This increase was accompanied by a boom in housing prices—which doubled in real terms over the same period. The economy as a whole also grew at a record pace. […]
IMFBlog2020-03-23T10:02:58-04:00January 16, 2019|
By IMFBlog
In 2019, the IMF will complete 14 assessments under the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP). Eight of this year’s assessments are mandatory: Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, Poland, Singapore, and Switzerland. The other six are voluntary: Algeria, Bahamas, Kuwait, FYR Macedonia, Malta, and Thailand. […]
IMFBlog2019-03-25T13:49:27-04:00July 10, 2017|
By IMFBlog
July 10, 2017
A crane looms over the city of Oslo, Norway: Constraints on new construction limit the supply of housing, driving up prices (photo: Ingram Publishing/Newscom)
Think Londoners and New Yorkers have it bad when it comes to sky-high house prices? Residents of Oslo have reason to gripe, too.
House prices in the Norwegian capital are among the world’s highest, as measured by the average cost of a home relative to household median income. Prices in Oslo are perhaps the most visible symptom of a real estate boom across the oil-rich, Nordic nation of 5.2 million people.
IMFBlog2019-03-27T16:07:34-04:00June 10, 2015|
By Eugenio Cerutti, Jihad Dagher, and Giovanni Dell’Ariccia
Housing finance—considered one of the villains of the recent global financial crisis—was seen, at least until recently, as a vehicle for economic growth and social stability. Broader access to housing finance promotes home ownership, especially for younger and poorer households; which in turn is often linked to social stability, and ultimately economic growth.
But real-estate boom episodes have often ended in busts with dire economic consequences, especially when the boom was financed through fast credit growth. Several countries have seen these boom-bust patterns over the last decade, particularly in some of the hardest hit countries during the global financial crises, such as Ireland, Spain, and the United States. Despite having different mortgage market structures, these three countries saw an astonishing increase in house prices and construction on the back of risky lending which was followed by a painful adjustment period—a mortgage credit boom gone bad.
IMFBlog2019-03-27T18:20:05-04:00April 6, 2015|
By Mohamed Norat, Marco Pinon and Zeine Zeidane
(Versions in عربي)
Since the global financial crisis, policymakers have sought to press the “reset” button to strengthen financial intermediation that is performed by conventional banks and non-bank financial institutions. The aim has been to address the fault lines that helped trigger one of the most devastating financial crises in a century, and to enable a more inclusive, stable financial system that promotes stability as well as economic development and growth.
Islamic finance offers several features that are consistent with these objectives. Islamic finance refers to financial services that conform with Islamic jurisprudence, or Shari’ah, which bans interest, speculation, gambling and short-sales; requires fair treatment; and institutes sanctity of contracts. And these principles hold the promise of supporting financial stability, since a key tenet of Islamic finance is that lenders should share in both the risks and rewards of the projects and loans they finance.
IMFBlog2017-04-15T14:40:37-04:00February 10, 2010|
