Government Intervention in Housing: Convergence and Divergence of the Asian Dragons

Abstract

This paper compares housing policies among the Asian Dragons and explains their convergence and divergence from the perspective of government intervention and the historical contingencies of the housing policies themselves. It argues that before the regional economic crisis, the four Little Dragons diverged over a spectrum within the liberalist type, whereas China constituted a marketised socialist system. Since the crisis, government intervention generally retreated, except South Korea, in order to resolve housing problems ensued by past policies and the changed economic circumstances. Overall, the intensity of subsidy is determined by the socio-political and economic roles of housing in the development processes, whereas regulatory and supply controls are attributable to supply and demand imbalance and the state ownership of land and development rights.