Explaining recent changes in home prices
The increase in housing prices in the past ten years can largely be explained by falling mortgage interest rates and changes in household income. This article offers some projections of what might happen to housing prices if mortgage rates increase.
Are apartments in central Stockholm over priced
Housing prices in numerous major cities around the world have gone through a significant increase during the last years. Although property cycles and changes in fundamentals are responsible for part of the variation in prices, current price levels have led to concern about the underlying causes driving them up. Two main explanations for the phenomenon of booms and busts in the real estate markets have emerged. The first one argues that the increase in prices can be explained by the efficient market theory. The second one claims that a speculative “bubble” is responsible and that the prices of the assets do not represent fundamental values (Stiglitz, 1990). The Swedish housing market has been affected by the phenomenon for several years. Even though studies have been made to analyse the development of prices for single family houses in Sweden, it is not until recent years that the necessary information is available to perform similar analysis on the market for apartments in condominiums. The aim of this thesis was to find evidence which would either corroborate or reject the hypothesis that there is a speculative bubble in the market for owner occupied apartments in Stockholm’s inner-city. It was attempted by using economical indicators, to identify differences, patterns or shared characteristics for the Stockholm inner-city overall as well as at parish level that might suggest the existence of local bubbles or trends.
An assessment of the Impact of Devolution on Women Empowerment in Nakuru County
-Women have been grossly marginalized in organs of decision-making and governance structures. The Constitution of Kenya has sought to bridge this gap by providing both women and men the right to equal treatment, including the right to equal opportunities in political, economic, cultural and social spheres. However, gender equality has not been achieved and women are still lagging in terms of decision making processes. The main objective of the study was to detemine the impact of devolution on women empowerment in Nakuru County. The study found that substantive women representation, development of programs and accessibility of services had a positive effect on the women empowerment in Nakuru County. The study also found out that increased accessibility of Services by women influenced women empowerment, this study also concludes that the introduction of development programs had the greatest impact on women empowerment in Nakuru County. The study recommends that more programs targeting women should be introduced as these have the greatest impact on women empowerment. The findings may be used to make conclusions and recommendations.