While the rental market is currently a focus of attention in many countries, including Ireland 1, the link with financial stability, a preoccupation of central banks, is an issue that is frequently neglected in the important public debate about housing. Before proceeding, I note that while housing policies are outside the remit of central banks, any financial stability concerns they raise are not.
In this talk, I therefore hope to draw attention to these issues, while recognising that it is for others to set specific policies in these areas. My talk is motivated by three observations on housing markets through the crisis: first, while owner-occupancy rates increased prior to the crisis, during the recent crisis we saw owneroccupancy rates fall.