Long-Lasting Legacy of Rent Controls: Perspectives on the Private Rental Market in Malta within the Context of a Dual Market

Up to a few years ago, the private rental market in Malta was a classic example of the dysfunction created by two diametrically opposed regimes – a rigidly-controlled one and a completely liberal one – co-existing side by side. Two recent reforms have sought to address this situation. The objective of this paper is to describe the state-of-play in the private rental market in Malta by providing a historical background to these recent developments. In addition to the distortions in the housing market that rent controls introduce, controls also contributed to the deterioration of the statistical infrastructure to collect data on this sector. From this perspective, the introduction of the 2020 rent reform for the post-1995 sector, in addition to providing a set of minimum standards to professionalize the market, also facilitated data collection efforts through the introduction of a rent register. This information provided an alternative source of information to complement the other data sources, which tend to be outdated, inadequate, or focus solely on specific segments of the market, thus allowing for a more detailed and complete view of the private rental market in Malta.

An Automatic Tool for the Determination of Housing Rental Prices: An Analysis of the Italian Context

In the last decades, some global events such as the economic crisis of 2008 and the COVID-19 emergency of 2020, have generated more attention towards the housing rental market and its capacity to meet several social needs. In order to study the existent demand for houses, then define the interventions on the residential assets to make them more affordable for the most fragile population groups, adequate evaluation tools are required. With reference to the residential property segment of five metropolitan cities located in the Italian territory, the present research is aimed at analyzing the contribution of the most influencing factors on rental prices. In particular, this research refers to the rented properties of the second half of 2019, with a set of variables that represent the intrinsic and extrinsic factors of the local market. The implementation of an automated valuation model allows the determination of the most significant factors and the functional relationships that they have with housing rental fees. The outputs obtained could support the improvement of equitable public housing policies or could guide private investment decisions, such as refurbishment interventions of certain significant factors that could increase the market rental value. This study is the first step in wider research that is currently in progress, which aims to investigate the effects of the existing COVID-19 pandemic on the residential rental market.

Marital Status Equity in Tenant Selection Criteria in the Akure Rental Market

The paper examines the selection criteria for prospective single and married tenants by Estate Surveyors and Valuers in the study area, to determine fairness in practice. The survey research adopted a structured questionnaire to elicit data from a sample of Estate Surveying and Valuation firms in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria as Estate Surveyors and Valuers serve as both agents and property managers in the study area. Data collected were analyzed using the relative importance index (RII) and Mann Whitney U test. Findings revealed that irrespective of the marital status, the nature of employment of the prospective tenants is an essential criterion used at tenant selection. Also, there exists between singles and married tenants a statistically significant difference in the selection criteria used by Estate Surveyors and Valuers concerning 'employment' and 'ability of prospective tenants to pay subsequent rent' ; while, there was no significant difference in the tenant selection criteria in the areas of religion, gender, ethnicity, age, nature of employment, ability to pay the required rent, advance rent payment, ability to pay caution deposit, ability to pay service charge, provision of suitable Guarantors/Referee, physical appearance, suitability to the property, family size, ability and willingness to stick to the terms of the lease, criminality history/track record, first-time renters and history of previous tenancy. The study recommended that Estate Surveyors and Valuers should desist from discriminatory selection criteria differences as housing is a fundamental requirement for all, marital status notwithstanding. Also, government should formulate and enforce anti-discrimination policies at tenant selection which will protect the right of individuals to rental housing, irrespective of their marital status. This will create a balance in the rental market and take away the mild differences in the selection criteria used for prospective tenants as if this is not worked upon, the mild difference will someday become wide.

Housing Rental Incentive and Development Empirical Analysis from the Perspective of Financial Decentralization

This study aims to evaluate and analyze the implementation effect by central government of the housing rental market in different cities in the context of rent and purchase in parallel. Game theory and panel data empirical analysis were used to study the subsidy transmission mechanism of the development of the housing rental market under the perspective of financial decentralization. The central finance played an indirect role in the development of the local housing rental market, and the local government’s support for the local housing rental market was an intermediary variable. To promote the rapid and healthy development of the domestic housing rental market, the central government needs to make top-level design and give certain local policies and financial support. At the same time, local governments must actively implement relevant policies of the central government and support corresponding local support policies.