Central themes
Central themes of our Working Group are:

• To initiate and stimulate research in housing finance: mortgage systems, mortgage loan types, debt, developer finance, risk management; regulation and government involvement;
• To support the publication of research analyses and findings;
• To ensure an effective network among researchers; and
• To support the dissemination of knowledge about housing finance, mortgage systems, policy change and market development.

Activities and output in recent years
On 30th and 31st of March 2017 the European Mortgage Federation hosted a joint EMF-ENHR Seminar in Brussels with the title ‘Housing Finance – Future Challenges’. In two days 11 researchers presented their papers. In the joint session with EMF major challenges in the field of housing finance were overviewed and special attention was given to issues such as interest only loans, migrations and housing demand, the role of private renting and to the first time buyers. In September we once again held a successful workshop at the 2017 ENHR International Conference held in Tirana. There were four session with 12 papers and interesting discussions following the presentations. The Working Group will continue to make regular contributions to the debates on housing finance and regulation as well as on the impact of subsidy changes on the capacity to meet housing objectives.

The Working Group held a successful workshop at the 2018 ENHR International Conference held in Uppsala, Sweden. There were four session with 11 papers and interesting discussions following the presentations.

On 30th September and 1st October 2019 the European Mortgage Federation hosted a joint EMF-ENHR Seminar in Brussels on Housing Finance. In two days several researchers presented their papers. In the joint session with EMF major challenges in the field of housing finance were overviewed and special attention was given to issues such as variable interest loans, financing energy efficiency, funding affordable housing, buy-to-let loans and barriers to homeownership

In September 2019 we once again held a successful workshop at the ENHR International Conference held in Athens. There were four session with more than 10 papers and interesting discussions following the presentations. The Working Group will continue to make regular contributions to the debates on housing finance and regulation as well as on the impact of subsidy changes on the capacity to meet housing objectives.

Future plans and activities
The Working Group will continue to make regular contributions to the debates on housing finance and regulation as well as on the impact of subsidy changes on the capacity to meet housing objectives.
We plan to run a workshop in Nicosia (annual ENHR conference) in June 2020.

Policy implications
The analysis of how housing finance systems have developed over the last twenty five years and especially since the financial crisis is both an evaluation of national and international policy since the deregulations of the 1980s and provides an indication of how the implementation of regulatory and other changes will impact on national housing markets and individual households’ aspirations.
The Working Group will continue to make regular contributions to the debates on privatisation and regulation as well as on the impact of subsidy changes on the capacity to meet housing objectives.

Policy implications
The analysis of how housing finance systems have developed over the last twenty five years -and especially since the financial crisis is both an evaluation of national and international policy since the deregulations of the 1980s and provides an indication of how the implementation of regulatory and other changes will impact on national housing markets and individual households’ aspirations.
The Working Group will continue to make regular contributions to the debates on privatisation and regulation as well as on the impact of subsidy changes on the capacity to meet housing objectives.

Other
There are over 100 people on the Working Group e-mail list, a large proportion of whom are active both in contributing to seminars and conferences and taking part in monitoring activities.