The Globalization and Europeanization of Mortgage Markets

Do globalization and Europeanization lead to the deterritorialization of European mortgage markets? Neither economic globalization nor EU policies have resulted in one European mortgage market. The various European mortgage markets are still quite different from one another in many respects. In most countries national lenders continue to dominate the market even though regulation itself has been internationalized to some extent. Deterritorialization has been slow for various reasons: tax, law, cultural and structural differences play a part, but the limited market share of mortgage intermediaries and the unequal treatment of foreign mortgage lenders in some countries also form a barrier. Path-dependent trajectories are highly important, but can sometimes be bypassed by global processes or downplayed by the entry of foreign firms. The secondary mortgage market is increasingly becoming globalized, while most primary mortgage markets remain largely national. The financial crisis may temporarily slow down securitization, while simultaneously both decreasing and increasing the globalization of mortgage regulation, firms and markets.