Affordable Housing vs. Urban Land Rent in Widespread Settlement Areas

Abstract

Social housing constitutes a partial response to the demand for affordable housing. In Europe, there are different forms of social housing, which are distinguishable based on whether they employ a universal or residual approach. The latter is employed by Italian initiatives for social residential construction, the financial instrument of which is the Investment Fund for Housing, a closed-end fund managed by CDP (Cassa Depositi e Prestiti) Investment, which provides public–private partnerships. The main obstacle to the supply of low-cost houses is the high cost of building areas or, in other words, the high urban land rent. The value of building areas is particularly high in urban areas and in widespread settlement areas, for instance, in Northeastern Italy. The main objective of this paper is to identify the trade-off between urban land rent and housing affordability in a social housing intervention in Pordenone (Northeastern Italy). Four different scenarios are developed, the variables of which are: Cost of the area (urban rent), cost of construction works (quality of the buildings), and household income distribution. The results show that achieving the economic and social objectives of a social housing investment simultaneously is not possible in any of the scenarios evaluated. To allow the social groups most in need to access affordable housing would require a reduction of approximately 30% of the estimated cost of a building area.

The Effect of Taxation on Investment Demand in the Real Estate Market: The Italian Experience

“…In this context, it is clear that the level of taxation is the only certain element among those that contribute to the formation of the return-at any rate, in the short term. This is a factor that could (even with small oscillations) act as a flywheel or a curb for the demand for real estate, which is undoubtedly true for the part that contains the prevailing economic component by virtue of the strong elasticity that it shows in proximity to an expected rate of return close to the rate of alternative investments [20].…”

Modeling Low Energy Demand Futures for Buildings: Current State and Research Needs

“…Approximately 1.26 billion people in emerging nations are estimated to live in inadequate housing, and this number will rise to 3 billion people by 2030 (156). Among the approaches to model access to housing or shelter, demographic variables, such as household formation, or economic variables, including aspects of housing markets and affordability, are typically considered important drivers of changes in housing stocks and flows over time (157)(158)(159). Recent studies (160) showed that provision of durable housing for all could result in considerable energy footprints, even if the increase in energy provision for basic decent living does not pose, in itself, a threat to climate change mitigation (160).…”

Land acquisition policy and practice for cooperative housing scheme in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia: toward affordable housing solutions

“…Moreover, many countries in the region, including Ethiopia, lack comprehensive policies on land acquisition for housing, leading to unclear legal frameworks and a lack of transparency in the land acquisition process (Toulmin, 2009;UN-Habitat, 2011;Arjjumend and Seid, 2018;Lamson-Hall et al, 2019;Larsen et al, 2019). Another significant factor is the high cost of land in urban areas resulting from the alarmingly high demand of serviced land for housing and its limited supply (Berto et al, 2020;Yimam et al, 2022). Hence, land prices have skyrocketed in recent years, making it increasingly difficult for developers to acquire land for affordable housing (UN-Habitat, 2011;Yimam et al, 2022).…”