The European Mortgage Federation – European Covered Bond Council (EMF-ECBC) is pleased to announce the publication of a Concept Note on the Role of Mortgage Lenders & Capital Markets in Building an Affordable & Sustainable Housing Ecosystem.
Unaffordable housing is a matter of great concern in the European Union (EU). It leads to housing insecurity, financial strain, and inadequate housing. It also prevents young people from leaving their parental home, impacting their mobility in the single market and limiting their labour/life opportunities. These problems directly affect people’s health and well-being, embody unequal living conditions and opportunities, and result in increased healthcare costs, reduced productivity, and environmental damage. In the past decade, homeownership in the EU has decreased overall, driven in particular by a drop in homeownership among young people. There has been an increase in Europeans living in apartments, concentrated in towns and suburbs.
Mortgage lenders and capital markets have played and will continue to play a crucial and catalytic role in supporting economic transition, providing the means to respond to local, regional and national needs – especially with regards to access to housing, with an overarching European financial infrastructure which supports the EU’s leadership in ESG policies as a geopolitical financial model. In this context, designing an affordable and sustainable housing ecosystem that supports citizens, investors, and lenders is an opportunity to generate both macro- and micro-economic growth models.
We stand ready to assist the EU institutions by sharing knowledge, advice, best practices, cooperating, and supporting the housing agenda with an ecosystem approach, bringing affordability, energy efficiency, and renovation solutions over the coming years. In particular, we believe that we can provide a tangible contribution with our expertise in developing and leading global market initiatives such as the Covered Bond Label with its specific disclosure section of the Harmonised Transparency Template for Green & sustainable Covered Bonds, the Energy Efficient Mortgage Initiative (EEMI), Energy Efficient Mortgage Label, the International Secondary Mortgage Market Association (ISMMA) and a global housing and housing finance database (HOFINET). These Initiatives, where innovation and harmonisation of best practices have already facilitated a leveraging of the market to scale-up efficiencies, demonstrate both the capacity and willingness of our sector to assume and play its full role here.
Our Label initiatives reinforce the role of the European mortgage market as a driver for growth and risk reduction. These Initiatives lead stakeholders towards a cathartic renovation of market best practices across the Single Market, reducing market fragmentation, which constitutes a major source of risk for the real estate market in Europe, as identified in the Report “Assessing real estate risks and vulnerabilities. Hidden cracks in the financial system?” prepared by the Economic Governance and EMU Scrutiny Unit (EGOV) of the European Parliament at the request of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON).
The EMF-ECBC remains at the disposal of the European authorities to play a market catalyst role and share its expertise on housing policies, covered bonds, securitisation, and mortgage credit to ensure a strong, stable, and sustainable future for all.
Commenting on the publication, Luca Bertalot, EMF-ECBC Secretary General, stated:
“Europe is built on common values, freedoms and the shared ambition of providing a better life to our upcoming generations. Our cities, our homes are the places where our lives are shaped and our future designed. An affordable and sustainable housing ecosystem is the pillar of a new economic paradigm for the future of the Single Market, impacting labour markets, economic growth and financial stability but more importantly people’s dignity and hope for a better future.”
Contact
Luca Bertalot
Secretary General
Tel. +32 2 285 40 33
Established in 1967, the European Mortgage Federation (EMF) is the voice of the European mortgage industry on the retail side of the business, representing the interests of mortgage lenders at European level.
