This paper presents a parsimonious model for forecasting and analysing euro area house prices and their interrelations with the macroeconomy. A quarterly vector error correction model is estimated over 1970-2009 using supply and demand forces central to the determination of euro area house...

This paper examines the time varying dispersion in city house price levels across the four biggest euro area countries compared with those in the United States. Using available city-level data over the period 1987-2008, it tests for price convergence and analyses key factors explaining price...

Migrant integration in Arnsberg has primarily taken place by opening up the core institutions, such as the education system and the labour market, to migrants and by including migrants in the national welfare system. With regard to the housing market, this means that non-Germans have the same...

Antwerp is the largest city in Flanders, with 470,044 inhabitants in 2006. Some 13% of the city’s population consists of foreigners, of whom 8% are non-EU nationals. Antwerp’s municipal housing policy aims to sustain and even increase the diversity within the city. This diversity pertains...

The city of Vienna’s integration policies since the beginning of the 1990s have aimed to achieve equal rights and opportunities for immigrants in all spheres of social and economic, cultural and political life of the local population. Thus, a comprehensive set of measures were implemented to...

Considering the late start of immigration - 10 years ago -, integration policies in Terrassa have developed rather quickly and the implementation of social measures has been undertaken in a dynamic and energetic way. Measures include visiting immigrants in order to prevent problems in apartment...

Stuttgart has about 600,000 inhabitants, almost a quarter of whom are foreigners and 40% have a migration background. In this prosperous city, the integration of migrants has primarily taken place through structural integration into the labour market. The city included migrants in the general...

As early as the 1960s, due to its industrial facilities, Frankfurt became one of the first main destinations for guest workers. Today, almost 161,000 foreigners from 130 countries live in Frankfurt, accounting for one quarter of the city’s population. Frankfurt’s housing market, particularly...

Homestead exemptions to personal bankruptcy allow households to retain their home equity up to a limit determined at the state level. Households that may experience bankruptcy thus have an incentive to bias their portfolios towards home equity. Using US household data from the Survey of Income...