Research Consultancy in Housing Markets by Maartje Martens

Housing markets are experiencing exceptional times. My thesis is that, in a number of countries, certainly including the Netherlands, they are undergoing profound structural change.

I offer an analysis of the Dutch housing market to organizations and institutions that might be interested in the conditions and prospects of the Dutch housing market.

My analysis differs from the mainstream approach taken by housing market studies and I believe that this is necessary for a good understanding of the changes we are experiencing today

A new approach to research and analysis of housing markets

The foundations of the Dutch housing market have become unstable. The most important component, the assumption that house prices will keep rising, has disappeared completely, with sharp falls in house prices more likely every day. The prospect of diminishing sales profits, which might not even cover the down payment for a new house, has resulted in stagnating house sales, and contributed to further inexorable falls in house prices. A downward moving spiral has been set in motion and is emptying a large housing bubble.

Several questions arise, now that housing markets are not following the old paradigms. For example:
How will the owner-occupied housing market function without house price inflation and profitable housing sales? Will the structure of the housing market change and, if so, how? Will the relation between the rental and owner-occupied market(s) be affected? What will the effects be on the supply of, and demand for, housing? What value will individual homeownership have, if it is no longer seen as a safe investment or as collateral for other borrowing?

We cannot assume that the housing market as we have known it will be the same in a few years time. The changes under way call for a re-examination of the social relations of the owner-occupied housing market, new ideas and fresh research. My analytical method offers a way of mapping the changes that are occurring today.

Research method

I stay away from quantitative models and employ qualitative research. I analyze housing markets in relation to the institutions and policies involved in the provision of housing, including housing  policies, the building sector, financial markets and institutions, relations of land ownership and tenure in rental housing.

About  myself

I studied planning at the Technical University of Eindhoven and worked at several universities (Essex and University College London in the UK, Delft and Utrecht in the Netherlands) until about ten years ago. I then lived in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, for a number of years. Recent developments in the owner occupied sector have revived my interest in research and analysis in this area, particularly since other housing analysts do not (yet) appear to be considering the perspectives I would bring to it.