Tenurial ëCompetitioní, Maturation of Housing Systems and the Private Rented Sector: An International Reappraisal

The debate in the academic literature about the respective roles of different tenures stimulated in part by Kemenyís pioneering work on home ownership in Sweden, the UK and Australia has focused on distinctions between dual and unitary markets, and latterly the concept of an ëintegrated rental marketí. These analyses tend to see the private rented sector as having a minor part of the private housing provision, an adjoint to owner occupation. This paper seeks to reappraise this view by incorporating subsequent theoretical developments and recent policy initiatives in different countries. This paper is in two parts, first it charts the re_emergence and changing face of the private rented sector across key OECD countries over the last twenty years. This analysis provides the basis for a more detailed examination of the role of the private rental market relative to other tenures focussing on a small number of countries including Australia, the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, and Scandinavian countries. The paper considers in particular the role of ëcompetitioní between the PRS, social housing and owner occupation, including the effectiveness of the key process of maturation in Kemenyís model.