Policymakers in developing and developed economies recognize the social and economic importance of housing investment. It accounts for between 25 and 35 percent of overall investments around the world, and is the primary investment in many households. It is not only a key social good, but also an economic driver, with a significant impact on growth and labor markets. Ensuring the availability of housing is a policy priority in most countries, but the realities vary greatly. In many developing countries, housing finance systems are small, instable and fragmented. Because of weak property titling and registration systems and other factors an excessive proportion of these assets can not be used as collateral for housing finance. Lack of access to housing finance in turn makes housing unaffordable for much of the population. At the same time—because of the serious difficulty in gaining access to housing finance and frequent housing supply distortions leading to high housing prices—participants in these markets perceive a greater need for subsidies, while lenders face higher exposures to risk.

In this context, the World Bank Group has organized the upcoming seminar on Housing Finance in Emerging Markets: Policy and Regulatory Challenges. The seminar responds to a critical need among financial sector officials and practitioners for a systematic discussion about the development of strong housing finance markets. The program will address step-by-step the process of building a housing finance system: property rights, collateral and foreclosure laws, fundamentals of mortgage lending, and simple forms of bond funding, and social housing policy. The latter part of the seminar will explore challenges of more advanced housing finance markets: secondary mortgage markets, regulation and best practices, credit insurance and guarantee schemes, and advanced securitization. The program will combine presentations from experts with panels and discussions to explore individual country experiences.