Investigating Regional Differences in Housing Affordability of Different Income Groups

The volume of construction sector and housing construction in particular has been remarkably increased after the second half of the 2000s. Beyond economy policies, institutional and legal restructuring in the planning system, as well as in Mass Housing Law, has an important role on massive increase in housing construction. In this period, which is dominated by the market housing, housing construction not only increased in quantity but also the supply variety in housing types increased. Either middle or high income groups are on the target of the supply market, however, low income groups are mainly ignored. Likewise, the Mortgage Law restricts low-income groups loan opportunities based on 20% pre-payment and 10 year lenght period for repayments. Consequently, new housing supply for low-income groups and low-income groups accessibility to housing ownership market has been a striking problem. This study investigates housing affordability in new supply according to different income groups. Income groups are represented by quintiles. An affordability index according to quintiles is developed in between years 2006-2014 for five NUTS1 region in order to reflect the changing affordability levels of those groups in years. Evaluations based on the varying index levels both for income groups in quintiles and geographic regions. Discussions were deepened by focusing on low-income groups’ affordability levels