Aspectes econòmics de la problemàtica de l'habitatge

Abstract

The author examines the difficult situation of the housing sector and particularly its financing problems. After presenting the key variables which, from a theoretical point of view, characterise the supply and demand of housing, specifically the fact that supply is rigid in the short term and that the variability in demand involves adjustments via prices, the author explains the main features of the trends in the housing sector in Spain and Catalonia since 1999. He also analyses the factors that boost demand, developments in public policy, the improvement in credit conditions and subsequent influence of the interest rate market and its impact on employment in the sector, as well as the start of a crisis whose magnitude was not foreseen at the time.