"As England's Industrial Revolution started the process of urbanization that has since characterized development throughout the world, a poet worried about the ""dark satanic mills"" that were such a fundamental part of this revolution. However, despite his misgivings, he also suggested that it was necessary for societies to arm themselves with ""chariots of fire"" and other weapons so that they could master this process. In a somewhat more prosaic poetic vein World Bank President Robert McNamara launched the bank's shelter assistance programs saying that 'If cities do not begin to deal more constructively with poverty, poverty may begin to deal more destructively with cities.' These concerns would appear to have even more resonance today as the population of cities in developing countries increasing by unprecedented levels of more than 1 billion people per year for the next 15 years. This magnitude suggests the scale of the increase in the investment in shelter needed to meet the needs of this growing population."

This open access book utilizes new data to thoroughly analyze the main factors currently shaping the African housing market. Some of these factors include the supply and demand for housing finance, land tenure security issues, construction cost conundrum, infrastructure provision, and low-cost housing alternatives. Through detailed analysis, the authors investigate the political economy surrounding the continent’s housing market and the constraints that behind-the-scenes policy makers need to address in their attempts to provide affordable housing for the majority in need. With Africa’s urban population growing rapidly, this study highlights how broad demographic shifts and rapid urbanization are placing enormous pressure on the limited infrastructure in many cities and stretching the economic and social fabric of municipalities to their breaking point. But beyond providing a snapshot of the present conditions of the African housing market, the book offers recommendations and actionable measures for policy makers and other stakeholders on how best to provide affordable housing and alleviate Africa’s housing deficit. This work will be of particular interest to practitioners, non-governmental organizations, private sector actors, students and researchers of economic policy, international development, and urban development.

This book explores the linkages between formal and informal housing finance drawing upon the lessons of NGO and micro-finance practices. Both public and private formal finance institutions have experienced great difficulty in lending below a middle-income client group, and are often reluctant to lend for the purpose of housing at all. This failure of formal finance to filter down to low-income households, and in particular to women, has led various NGOs and community groups to create and adopt innovative finance programmes, such as informal savings banks and credit rotating schemes. The authors critically assess the impact of theses schemes, and evaluate links between gender, housing and finance.

This book is a much-needed account, with numerous detailed examples, of the role of housing in economic growth and development by an author in a unique position to understand its importance and the practical measures for delivering that growth. While the linkages between housing and the macroeconomic environment in developed countries has been studied, the case of developing and transitional countries has been mostly overlooked. The author establishes these linkages with great clarity, supported by detailed case studies chosen to reflect regional diversity as well as differences in socio-economic development and political systems. On the basis of this analysis, the author goes on to develop specific policies and practices to enable governments to enhance the contribution of housing in economic growth.

Housing finance markets have been changing dramatically in both emerging and developed economies. On the one hand, housing finance markets are expanding and represent a powerful engine for economic growth in many emerging economies. However, the unfolding sub-prime mortgage crisis highlights the risks and potential turbulence that this sector can introduce into the financial system when expanding without proper infrastructure and regulation. As housing finance keeps growing in emerging economies to match a rising demand for housing, new risk management approaches, business models, funding tools, and policy instruments can help. Yet many questions remain about the right balance between innovation and regulation, the extent of risks to the financial system, the appropriate role of the state to promote affordable housing, and the effects of the sub-prime crisis. This book provides a guide for policymakers dealing with housing finance in emerging markets. It highlights the prerequisites for an effective housing finance system; it lays out several policy alternatives and models of housing finance; and it explores the role of governments in expanding access to housing finance for lower-income households. There is no "best" model set out in this book. The aim is to provide a developmental roadmap that can be tailored and sequenced to each country's situation and timing.