Housing and savings

Housing Hopes and Worries

This survey, originally from the LA Times and Bloomberg, gives a very clear idea that most people see housing as an investment or savings decision rather than just the purchase of housing services. It would be intereting to look at the savings ratio if we adjusted for the fact that this expenditure may actually be savings. The countries with strong increases in property prices (because of increased demand) also seem to be the ones with a fall in savings ratios under the traditional method of measurement.