ancient cities

366 Homeownership
Further Readings
Glasze, G., C. J. Webster, and K. Frantz, eds. 2006.
Private Cities: Local and Global Perspectives. London:
Routledge.
McKenzie, E. 1994. Privatopia: Homeowner Associations
and the Rise of Private Residential Government. New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Nelson, R. 2005. Private Neighborhoods and the
Transformation of Local Government. Washington,
DC: Urban Institute Press.
Ho m e o w n e r s H iP
Homeownership refers to the possession of certain
rights as regards the housing unit in which one
lives. This may involve control and use of both the
dwelling and the property on which the dwelling
is built, a popular form of homeownership in the
United States. Alternatively, homeownership may
take the form of condominium or apartment ownership,
whereby an individual has rights regarding
a housing unit that is one of many units, each
sharing a common property area. In this instance,
an individual has sole ownership of the dwelling
unit and collective ownership of the property on
which the unit is built as well as any other common
areas associated with the dwelling unit.
Condominium or apartment ownership tends to
be popular in urban areas where land is scarce,
particularly in European cities. In the case where
the property comes with garden amenities, as is
common with condominium ownership in the
United States, maintenance of the land tends to be
contracted out, allowing individuals to own their
dwelling units without laboring to maintain the
common property areas.
Homeownership rates vary by world region
and tend to be highest in low-income countries
and nonurban areas of higher-income countries.
Dwelling ownership takes many forms, and in
many of the countries, owner-occupied housing
units frequently lack basic amenities such as
potable water and indoor cooking facilities.
High-income countries tend to have well developed
mortgage markets and, as a result, a relatively
high-quality housing stock as well as
widespread homeownership. After exploring
those topics, this entry summarizes the extensive
research on homeownership issues: Wealth and
family composition are important determinants
of dwelling ownership, homeownership generates
private as well as social benefits, and although
homeowners tend to be more politically conservative,
political beliefs are determined by factors
associated with homeownership rather than homeownership
per se. Finally, in the United States,
federal policy initiatives have played a role in
boosting the homeownership rates of households
in general and, more recently, for historically
underrepresented groups.
Characteristics of Ownership
In most countries, homeownership is the dominant
form of housing tenure, with homeownership
rates varying by world region. Asian and sub-
Saharan African countries have among the highest
rates of dwelling ownership, at roughly 75 percent,
and Western European countries have among
the lowest, with a country-average rate of slightly
less than 60 percent. In some Western European
countries, such as Austria, Germany, and the
Netherlands, the majority of households are tenants.
The United States has one of the highest
homeownership rates of the industrialized countries.
Homeownership also tends to be lower in
urban than rural areas.
The predominant form of homeownership in
the United States is a single-family detached unit,
whereas individual ownership of apartments in
multifamily buildings is common in European
countries. In developing nations, self-built housing,
often lacking piped water and other basic
amenities such as indoor cooking and bath facilities,
makes up a significant portion of the owned
housing stock. For example, although the estimated
rate of owner occupancy is roughly 85 percent
in Mali, the percentage of occupied dwelling
units estimated to have piped-in water is only 4
percent.
One of the most common ways to purchase a
home is through mortgage financing. This involves
the home buyer contributing a lump sum toward
the purchase of the house, known as a down payment,
and a lending institution providing the funds
for the remainder of the home price. The buyer
then makes payments to the lending institution
over a fixed time period, known as the mortgage