Recent evolution of housing finance policy and development agendas in Mexico

Political and economic reforms to open and liberalize Mexico’s economy drove federal administrations to promote mortgage expansion and mass housing production at an unprecedented pace since around the turn of the millennium. This allowed a select group of housing development companies to grow considerably through the construction and sale of homes for lower-middle income households. The country’s housing finance and development model was eventually rendered unsustainable given onerous mortgage terms for households, substandard housing production in remote locations, leverage issues and speculative practices on the part of developers. Subsequent administrations modified their approach to managing, promoting, and restricting housing finance and production, highlighting the influence of political actors and regimes in addressing the tensions between economic pressures and social concerns. Shifting sociopolitical dynamics have continued to transform housing finance policy agendas. While the reach and implications of recent changes have not fully materialized, this paper highlights the fluctuating and unstable nature of housing finance and its contingency on the different political and ideological inclinations of national (and subnational) governments – and the push of their constituents.