The role of newspaper discourse in the social construction of the housing market : bringing newspaper discourse on the Dutch housing market during two housing price booms into perspective

Thesis title:

‘ The Role of Newspaper Discourse in the Social

Construction of the Housing Market. Bringing Newspaper

Discourse on the Dutch Housing Market During Two

Housing Price Booms into Perspective.’

Date of publication:

June 7, 2018

By:

Belle Barbara Montanus

Student number:

10167234

Private e-mail address: bmontanus@gmail.com

Supervisor:

Dr. R. Ronald

Second assessor:

Dr. D.V.H. Evers

Master’s programme:

Urban and Regional Planning

Thesis group:

Changing landscapes, instruments and actors of the

The role of newspaper

discourse in the social

construction of the

housing market

Bringing newspaper discourse on the Dutch

housing market during two housing price

By Belle Montanus

Coordinator Professor Richard Ronald

University of Amsterdam

Student number 10167234

Date June 7, 2018

Thesis project Changing landscapes,

instruments and actors of property industry in

urban development

Preface

Originally, I wanted to write my master thesis on the upcoming

environmental law, de Omgevingswet. After a couple of tries on shaping the research and finally finding out the law has been postponed until 2021, I felt like researching it would become vague and highly speculative. Luckily, Christian Lennartz of the Rabobank was interested in researching the influence of media reports on the housing prices in the Netherlands. Although I did not do my research with him, he allowed me to continue the research following his original idea.

As a (aspiring) planner, the housing market is one of my main interests. It is a phenomenon that concerns us all, because at the end of the day, we all have to live somewhere. At the same time, the housing market is a paradox that can seem rather vague and difficult to understand, yet appealing and fascinating at the same time. Because it is not a physical market, it can seem hard to grasp. With my research, I have tried to create a framework for understanding how this market is established and constantly reshaped by society itself, whilst also focusing on concepts that are easier to understand, like housing prices and descriptions of print media on the market. I have read the total of 745 articles with pleasure and interest, especially the ones where the media influence became apparent already. I remember one particular article in which a real estate agent told an anecdote on how one of the persons whose house in Amsterdam he was selling, phoned him to say he wanted to wait a little longer before putting his house on the market, because he had read in the newspapers that the housing prices were rapidly

increasing and he wanted to make more profit when selling his house. This anecdote perfectly sums up the power of media discourse for me. And even though I have struggled with the concept ( a lot, to be honest), I think it is important to be aware of how much discourse is influencing us in our role as planner. After all, the key elements of our work field, like policy documents and zoning plans find their roots in discourse.

After four months of hard work, I proudly finish off my final product. First and foremost, I would like to thank my coordinator Richard Ronald for all the help, feedback and ideas on approaching the research. Secondly, I would also like to thank the second reader, David Evers, for taking the time to read and evaluate this thesis. I also would like to thank Christian Lennartz for coming up with the main focus of this research and his feedback in the early stages. Finally, I would like to thank my friend Aridan Mećava for his feedback, support and help in the layout of the final product.

Abstract

In the past thirty years, the Netherlands has gone through two peaks in housing prices, one previous and one post to the financial crisis of

2009-2013. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how mainstream media discourses have framed the volatility of the housing sector during these two periods. In doing so, we consider the ways such media have contributed to the (re)construction of the housing market. Drawing on analysis of a sample of articles of the six biggest newspapers in the Netherlands, a discourse analysis is exerted to employ the discourses and explore the selective ‘memory/amnesia’ of the media, set against the contemporary Dutch neoliberal landscape. The main argument is that newspaper discourses between the two periods have changed from a mostly negative to a more positive tone and a more open perception of possible housing market bubbles, whilst the newspapers have maintained a neoliberalist ideology. Keywords: Media discourse, newspapers, housing market, housing prices, neoliberal, boom periods, The Netherlands

Table of contents

The role of newspaper discourse in the social

construction of the housing market

1

Preface

6

Abstract

8

Table of contents

10

Introduction

12

Literature review

16

2.1 The Dutch housing market and the ‘influence’ of print media 2.2 Neoliberal landscape

2.3 The construction of the housing market

2.4 Discourse and the role of language in housing theory

Research question and conceptual framework

24

3.1 Research question 3.2 Conceptual framework 3.3 Operationalization

Methodology

30

Establishing the Market Context: The Boom Periods 36

5.1 2000-2008 5.2 2014-2018

Newspaper discourse on the housing market

42

6.1 introduction

6.2 Newspaper discourses: 2000-2008 6.3 Newspaper discourses: 2014 – 2018 6.4 Conclusion

Changes of discourse and path-dependency in

newspaper memory

56

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Evolution of the discourse 7.3 Path-dependency and memory 7.4 Conclusion

Changing conditions on the housing market

62

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Neoliberalist outings in the discourse 8.3 Influence of market conditions 8.4 Conclusion

Conclusion and reflection

68

9.1 Conclusion 9.2 Reflection

Literature

72

Appendices

78

1

Over the past thirty years, the Netherlands has been through two periods of extensive increases in housing prices, divided by a period of crisis in which the housing prices dropped by roughly 25% (Knab, 2018). Compared to the peak the housing market went through in 2008, average house prices are currently about 3% lower, but when compared to the low point in June 2013, prices have gone up by over 23% (CBS, 2018a). In 2017 alone, the housing market grew by 13.5%. At the same time the housing prices have gone up, the average age at which people buy their first house in the Netherlands has increased to the age of 39.4 years, as opposed to a mean of 34.8 years in 2000 (CBS, 2017). It has been suggested that the lower availability of houses that are currently for sale (van Ammelrooy & van den Eerenbeemt, 2018) and the increasing housing prices possibly have played a role in the

occurrence of ‘generation rent’: a group of younger households who cannot access the market due to being priced-out or out-competed by the ‘buy-to-let’ investors (Munro, 2018). If the housing market in the Netherlands continues to grow, a new housing bubble might occur, posing a possible risk to the economy and financial stability (Lennartz & Vrieselaar, 2017). This is also demonstrated by the report of UBS (2017) on the global real estate bubble index. This report discusses the likeliness of a new real estate bubble in cities across the world, presenting Amsterdam as one of the highest indexed, and therefore most exposed, cities in Europe.

The Dutch housing prices are volatile, and a number of changes in for example mortgages, mortgage interests and tax cuts on home ownership (hypotheekrenteaftrek) have happened over the past couple of years. Together with changes in the composition of the housing supply and changed rules for rental housing, the housing market seems to have become increasingly central to everyday news. Contemporary media play a big role in not only informing its public but also the spreading and sustaining of certain perceptions of the housing market, with their abilities to influence a larger group of people at the same time (Walker, 2014). Despite erosion of print editions over recent years, newspapers are still a key source of public knowledge. However, the media is not always independent or impartial. Teo (2000) suggested discourses, especially ones that are encountered every day, e.g. by the expressions of print media, “can change our perceptions

regarding people, places and events” (Teo, 2000, p.9). It has been specifically argued that the tone the media use can influence the housing market, and understanding this can possibly help us predict future changes in the market (Walker, 2014). In this case, research has suggested that newspapers might have the power to sustain certain market conditions, resulting in a housing price inflation or deflation. The focus on rising housing prices in a certain area, for example, might influence a particular perception of a location or

place, creating more demand for housing in a certain area (Soaita & Searle, 2016).

This thesis explores the contribution of media discourse to the

(re)construction of the housing market in the current Dutch neoliberal landscape. A similar review of discourses on the role of media influence on housing markets has been recently explored in Ireland, but this topic seems to be underexamined elsewhere. Especially in contexts such as the

Netherlands, that feature markets influenced by large social rental sectors. This thesis seeks to address this gap and contribute to the literature via an analysis on the framing of the volatility of the housing markets by the six largest Dutch national newspapers. Their content on the housing market during two boom periods (2000-2008 and 2014- 2018) is reviewed and the given discourses are analyzed through a two-level analysis. First, a content analysis is executed, to move from a quantification of the discourse to an analysis of the content. This is done through discourse analysis, in order to find a path-dependency of media coverage on housing market booms. Path-dependency can help to understand processes of change by the creation of a trajectory of contingent cases (Mahoney, 2000). According to Page (2006), future events depend on their historical trajectory, although the future reaction might not always correspond with previous reactions to similar actions. In the context of newspaper coverage on the housing market, this might imply the media can carry a ‘memory’ for historic events and reports, but they could choose to fall into ‘amnesia’ or respond differently to a similar event like a housing price bubble.

2

In this chapter, the scientific literature is explored in order to shed light on different concepts and influencing factors of discourse and the housing market. First, the characteristics of the Dutch housing market are assessed, with a focus on residential and commercial property and the three property sectors. The assessment is combined with an exploration of the ‘influence’ of print media on this market. There is suggested the ‘influence’ is linked to the contemporary neoliberal landscape in the Netherlands, after which the construction of markets in social theory is reviewed. Lastly, the role of discourse in housing theory is considered, to support the methodology used in this thesis.

2.1 The Dutch housing market and the ‘influence’

of print media

Research after housing markets up till now usually has a largely economic focus, based either on the level of the individual urban housing market or at the regional level (Jones, 2002). According to Walker (2016), the housing market can be divided into residential and commercial property. In the Netherlands, the market for residential property is split into three sectors: social housing, the mid-rental sector and the ‘free’ market sector (vrije sector), consisting of both rental housing and owner-occupied property. As defined by Haffner et al (2009), the social housing sector consists of dwellings that are owned by social housing organizations, whom are private actors in the case of the Netherlands. The key difference between the social housing sector and the market sector is the allocation of the housing type. Market sector housing is rented out by organizations that determine their prices by the state of the market, where resources are traded off according to “the ability to pay” (Haffner et al, 2009, p.4). The ‘private’ sector is accessible depending on the demand. Rents for this sector can either be determined and regulated by the government or by market forces (Haffner et al, 2009). However, the demand can also be influenced by media discourse. In Ireland, it has been demonstrated news organizations played a big role in sustaining the housing bubble of 2007 (Mercille, 2014). A similar event occurred in Norway, where the media, according to Larsen & Sethi (2016), stimulated real estate investments by focusing coverage on housing prices and spreading advertisements, possibly imposing a new bubble. Walker (2014) suggested contemporary media can influence a number of people at once, depending on the language they use and the opinions they share through discourse. The influence of media discourse on our understanding of politics and political language has been widely analyzed through the use of discourse analysis

bias created by the beliefs of opinion leaders, who possibly have been influenced by media themselves (Walker, 2014). Media sources function not only as a source of information to financial markets but also as stimulators of certain sentiments. Because media coverage can help in stimulating certain sentiments on the market, they can possibly contribute in creating market activity. However, whether the media actually covers the housing market, is determined by the actual performance of the market and events happening. Both variables thus affect one another (Walker, 2016).

Although newspaper circulation in the Netherlands has experienced over 45% decrease in print editions, more people nowadays access newspaper articles via a digital form (SVDJ, 2015). In this way, newspapers still have a wide spread of their coverage and comments, by which they have the power to influence people and determine their view of the world. In the way a newspaper formulates its articles, it can promote a certain opinion and thus have the power to institutionalize certain ideologies. At the same time, newspapers are commercialized companies that need financial funds in order to exist. Also, their readers pay to them to read their news, which gives newspapers the task of writing what their audience wants to read. This can stimulate a certain bias in order to attract an ‘elite’ audience, that proves to be attractive for advertisers (Munro, 2018; Mercille, 2014). Also, what must not be overlooked is the influence of ‘industry insiders’ like expert journalists and representatives of quoted corporations in creating the discourse of news on the housing market (Munro, 2018). Mercille (2014) furthermore suggested that newspapers not only have connections to and relations with certain political and corporate parties, they also carry out their stances. In boom years, newspapers tend to maintain a neoliberal ideology, leading them to mention little on less economically uplifting events to sustain the peak over reporting on an upcoming crisis.

2.2 Neoliberal landscape

Neoliberalist ideology has advanced globally since the 1980s. In the

Netherlands, the Wassenaar agreement of 1982, in which politicians and the private sector agreed on joint consultation to end polarity, indicates the start of the market-orientated government culture (van der Meer, 2003). The neoliberalist landscape promotes a more entrepreneurial mode of

governance, in which the market is openly accessible, highly competitive and unregulated (Brenner et al, 2005). According to neoliberalist theory, the government has changed its function from a more managerial position in carrying out urban development policies into becoming an active player in the market (Swyngedouw, 2002). In this way, the state becomes an ‘enabler’ of individual capacities, rather than the former idea of providing for its

citizens through the welfare state. Neoliberalism is based in the idea of the individual pursuit of wealth instead of collectivity and the ‘trickle down’ effect of economic, social and environmental goods through the market-mechanism (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992). Neoliberalism furthermore compasses competition and deregulation of markets (Mavelli, 2017). This resulted in a property market where more parties are visible, creating a new mode of government that makes use of new instruments and ways of multi-actor partnership to create a process of collective rule-setting (Tasan-Kok, 2010).

However, it is questionable how much influence neoliberalism in itself has, and has had, in the changing role of state, since it is inseparably connected to the development of the state and financialization. According to Mavelli (2017), the era of financialization has contributed to the establishment of new modes of governance, in which goods and services become privatized. A particular feature of neoliberalization, according to Aalbers (2017), has been the financialization of the housing sector. He argues mortgaged

homeownership has become an engine to the financial markets, rather than the market as a facilitator to homeownership. Soaita & Searle (2016)

mentioned the contemporary neoliberal landscape has, arguably, encouraged people to believe being a home-owner is a dependable, safe and smart way to secure their financial basis. This might have encouraged people to put more trust in buying a house than spending their money on the rental housing market. According to Hodgson (2000) and Stanfield (1999), both the economy and the property market are social conceptions. This creates uncertainty and fragility in the real estate market. Moreover, by the use of certain words and constructs, the importance of competitiveness,

entrepreneurialism and deregulation is promoted, which reconstitutes the individual as a neo-liberal subject, embedding them in a neoliberal ideology that compels them to trust in the market over other, more collective forms of social provision (Campbell, Tait & Watkins, 2014).

2.3 The construction of the housing market

As mentioned previously, it has been suggested the property market is a social conception (Hodgson, 2000; Stanfield, 1999). To understand the concept housing market, firstly the notion of society and the construction of markets are considered. According to Berger and Luckmann (1966), the concept of society is created through human activity. This product “acts back upon the producer” (Berger & Luckmann, 1966, p. 61). They argue society to be “an ongoing dialectical process composed of the three moments of

order exists, which only subsists as being the product of human activity and will thus not remain when humanity is not maintaining it. There cannot be a social order without human life. The product of society contains institutions like nations and the market (Berger & Luckmann, 1966). The concept of the market, according to Mises (1963), is also, critically, a social phenomenon. It is constructed in human society and a product of the input of individual persons. Like society, the market is a spontaneous order, which appears when multiple people are both competing and at the same time working together in order to exchange goods and services with one another. Markets exist due to an interplay of individuals who collaborate through the distribution of labor (Mises, 1963) and knowledge (Berger & Luckmann, 1966). They are conserved and determined by the choices of these individuals (Mises, 1963). Individuals come to know about the existence of the market phenomenon through social life and their being part of a community. They gain an understanding of the market through experience with the buying and selling of goods and services. This not only makes the market a social construct but makes it both an objective and subjective reality. Markets can be complex, as Storr (2010) stated by appointing that “in markets, multiple individual operating severally and on the basis of local and limited knowledge manage to coordinate their activities with one another by adjusting their plan in response to new knowledge discovered during their previous market activities or because of their changing perceptions of and expectations about current and future market conditions” (Storr, 2010, p. 203)

The housing market is a construct of individuals coming together in order to exchange a house as a commodity. The conditions of this market, like other markets, are determined by supply and demand of these individuals. When changes in supply occur, like the construction of new housing in addition to the housing stock, or residential mobility, the demand and consumption change as well. Changes on the housing market often happen due to a mismatch of households and their dwelling, which instates mobility to a different type of housing. This mechanism is not perfect since households are limited in their choice by their budgets and their preferences. The available housing stock does not always match their wishes. This mobility of people moving, together with government regulation and a variance of housing stock, is important in order to keep the market going (Clark & Dieleman, 2012).

Since the housing market is one of the most important factors in the national economy, it is also important to understand additional factors influencing this market. The housing market is also influenced by several factors like gross domestic product (GDP), (housing) investments, consumption, real wages and hours worked per capita. These variables seem to co-move during boom-bust

periods in the housing market (Lambertini et al, 2017). An explanation for the occurrence of a housing boom is given by Lambertini et al. (2017), who point at the optimism of households for the future house price appreciation. When prices go up, both the belief and the expectations in the future market increase, stimulating a boom period even further. In addition, Shiller (2005) refers to this as “irrational exuberance”; the tendency of people to believe too strongly in the market mechanism and the confidence that they might someday become rich of their investments. When this confidence is built up too strongly, people tend to overlook or ignore the possibility to prepare for less profitable outcomes and end up badly prepared for moments of economic bust. Munro (2018) states homeowners make up for a larger population who have an interest in house price increases. For this group, continued house price inflation is a desired and awaited benefit of the purchase of a house. Periods of house price increases can also be driven by a failure of supply and demand when the demand increases but the supply does not grow simultaneously (Munro, 2018).

2.4 Discourse and the role of language in housing

theory

Even though considerations of the concept of the housing market argued it to be a social construct, housing theory historically has been dependent on various disciplines, being object-oriented and basing mostly in economic theory for market dependency. However, more recent theories have adapted to a focus on socio-linguistic constructions and have taken in analysis from a feminist perspective as well. This includes a focus on concepts of discourse (Dodson, 2007). Discourse is, as Fairclough and Wodak (1997) argued “socially constitutive, as well as socially conditioned” (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997, p. 258). Specifically on the topic of housing, homeownership has taken in a dominant position in Western housing markets over the past four

decades. Whereas the Netherlands used to have strong policies for social housing and the rental system, the market has now transformed towards the ideology of home ownership as being the ‘natural’ state. This ideology is also taken up in public and academic discourse (Ronald, 2008). Houses are described as having economic qualities like being an investment, an asset and monetized as a commodity, next to having social characteristics of security, family, privacy, status, class and independence (Dodson, 2007). At the same time, housing has taken a more dominant role in social life. This due to the changing role of the state, where states have a firmer belief in the housing market as an economic and social pillar.

be associated with a broader ideological and cultural background. Also, how these relate to power and dominance issues that are expressed through the use of specific words. They argue the analysis on the use of discourse in housing theory is relatively uncommon, leading to a neglect of how language on housing is shaped by underlying factors and social characteristics that give meaning to the expression. Williams (1981) argues that language is a product of social relations within a society, which gives the words an erratic meaning. In order to understand the implications of language on the change of social and political change, Fairclough (1992) created a three-dimensional

framework of analysis (see figure 2.1), consisting of concepts of ‘text analysis’, ‘discursive practice’ and ‘social practice’. Text analysis consists of linguistic and discursive analysis, by analyzing language, grammar coherence and the form of the text. Text analysis can designate the use of synonyms for phenomena. Discursive practice helps to understand the use of certain expressions or metaphors and the consistency of the text, as well as discover the context to the discourse. Social practice finally aims to reveal structures of power and dominance. Its means are to uncover ideological characteristics in the discourse and the context of the discourse (Jacobs & Manzi, 1996).

FIGURE 2.1: FAIRCLOUGH’S THREE-DIMENSIONAL FRAMEWORK OF ANALYSIS.

SOURCE: JACOBS & MANZI (1996)

Thus, it is important to pay attention at the language used in documents to frame a discourse because it emphasizes (the complexity of) power relations and the potential to influence and change attitudes (Jacobs & Manzi, 1996). Furthermore, discourse itself can both review and give shape to external truths (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997).

Text analysis Discursive practice Social practice Method Analyzing grammar

coherence, vocabulary and text structure Understand expressions/ metaphors and consistency of text Uncover ideological characteristics in the context and the discourse itself

Aim Discover alternate wordings or synonyms Discover context of the discourse Reveal structures of power and dominance

3

Research question

and conceptual

3.1 Research question

The research question central to this thesis is: ‘How has newspaper discourse contributed to the (re)construction of the housing market over two housing price booms in the Netherlands?’. This question will be researched in order to determine how print media in the Netherlands have changed the framing of discourses on the housing market towards a more neoliberal perspective. It also frames an exploration of how newspapers ‘learn’ from the previous period and thus carry a ‘memory’ or fall into ‘amnesia’. In addition, this thesis considers how a particular discourse can sustain certain market conditions in the current neoliberal landscape. A shift in discourse can alter the perception of markets, possibly leading to a change in the market conditions. The goal is to explore what the contribution of newspaper discourse is to the construction of the housing market. This question will be answered on the base of a number of sub-questions.

The first sub-question is: ‘What discourses have the media used to frame the housing market?’. Here, the discourses the media used and uses to frame the housing market is reviewed. Also, the role of specific actors will be reviewed, as a means to reflect on the contribution of expert opinion and specialist ideas. Similarly, we consider ‘passive journalism’, where articles quote, uncritically, companies that profit from media coverage. It will thus explore how competing interests are represented in popular discourse.

The second sub-question is: ‘Has the media discourse changed over time and if so, is there a path-dependency that reflect a form of media ‘memory’?’. This sub-question will reveal how much the media (i.e. mainstream print media) discourse has changed over time and in what way (for example more optimistic or more reserved). Do the two periods reflect on past housing price booms? Do newspapers carry a memory or do they remain immutable? The goal is to ascertain whether the first peak has framed the latter, and if an alteration of context between the two periods has resulted in a shift in the discourse.

A third and final sub-question is: ‘To what extent have the two discourses shaped or influenced the conditions of the Dutch housing market?’. With this final question, the influence of newspaper discourse on the actual conditions of the housing market is explored. Have the media sustained a neoliberal discourse despite the crisis? Do the conditions of the market only influence the discourse, or have the discourses changed or reshaped the conditions in the market?

3.2 Conceptual framework

The housing market is influenced and shaped by several variables. In the literature overview, a number of these variables were reviewed. These

variables are the social constructivism in which society, markets and discourse are based, the contemporary neoliberal landscape in the Netherlands and the newspapers that establish the newspaper discourses. In figure 3.1, the

relations between the variables are mapped.

FIGURE 3.1: CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF THE HOUSING MARKET.

"

SOURCE: AUTHOR

The independent variables in the above model are individuals and the society as a human construct, together with the neoliberal landscape. According to socialist theory, individuals have created the idea of society, as an order to the human existence (Berger & Luckmann, 1966). Arising from society come the variables of language and markets. Language, which is a product of social relations in society (Williams, 1981), on its turn establishes discourse as also being a social construct and as a product of language (Fairclough and Wodak, 1997). Markets at the same time are also constructed through the concept of society. They are established through the variables of distribution of labor (Mises, 1963) and knowledge (Berger & Luckmann, 1966).

Since the 1980s, neoliberalism has advanced in the Netherlands. According to neoliberalist theory, this has led to a changing role of state. In the

Netherlands, this has contributed to a shift in social demands on the housing supply. An ideology of homeownership (Ronald, 2008) has become visible on the housing market, where homeownership rates have increased, and in newspaper discourse, where homeowners are represented. The newspapers,

who have shaped the discourse, are defined by characteristics like its readers, its financial sources, politics and industry insiders (Mercille, 2014; Munro, 2018). Newspapers could possibly influence housing prices, by stimulating certain sentiments on the market (Walker, 2016).

Lastly, the variables of markets as a social phenomenon through newspaper discourse, influence the dependent variable of the housing market. The housing market is a social construct, whose conditions are determined by the characteristics of supply and demand (Clark & Dieleman, 2012) because this is where housing is exchanged as being a commodity. The housing market is furthermore defined by GDP, (housing) investment, consumption, hours worked and real wages (Lambertini et al., 2017).

3.3 Operationalization

Media discourse on the housing market is defined by three categories: the power to influence the reader, the bias to attract an elite audience and the shaping of ideology and promotion of a certain (political) opinion. These categories can be discovered by the indicators as listed in figure 3.2. By analyzing the texts and language the newspapers have used, the power structure behind the discourse can be identified. By investigating the discourses the media used, eventually the power of discourse to sustain certain conditions on the housing market can possibly be identified. If there is a certain ideology promoted through all newspapers, this might influence readers and how they conceive certain events happening in the market. An assumption is therefore, that If the readers are convinced of events

happening, they might change their behavior or actions to respond to these events.

FIGURE 3.2: OPERATIONALIZATION OF MEDIA DISCOURSE ON THE HOUSING MARKET.

SOURCE: AUTHOR

Concept Categories Indicators Measure Media discourse on housing market Power to influence reader (Munro, 2018) Use of certain

discourses Content analysis Text analysis

(Fairclough, 1997)

Content analysis + newspaper background Bias to attract elite

audience (Mercille, 2014; Munro, 2018)

Author of article Content analysis Source of news (industry insiders, companies with a certain stake) Content analysis + newspaper background Shape ideology and promote (political) opinion (Mercille, 2014) Social practice (Fairclough, 1997) Content analysis + figure 4.1 Discursive practice (Fairclough, 1997) Newspaper background

4

4.1 Research design

In order to lay down a framework for the assembling and analysis of data, a comparative research design will be used. The time comparative design will help to evaluate the reliability, replicability and validity of the study. These demonstrate the study is repeatable and replicable and confirm the integrity of the conclusions drawn from the research (Bryman, 2012). By executing a comparative design, two cases can be studied via the use of a single method of analysis. Its goal is to create a better understanding of a social

phenomenon, media discourse in this case, by performing the same research on two boom periods and thus handing the reader a broader overview. This also helps set out theoretical reflections on contrasting findings. This will help improve the internal validity of the study. In qualitative research, a

comparative design is also known as a multiple case study. Multiple case studies can help enhance theory building. An extra benefit of a multiple case study, apart from improving theory building, is found in the in-depth analysis that can be performed on the case of media coverage on the Dutch housing market (Bryman, 2012). According to Stake (2005), a case study design also helps to establish which outcomes can be proven accurate, as well as what grounds are for further scientific research. The comparative design will be combined with a discourse analysis. Discourse analysis is based on the insights of Foucault, who used discourse to describe “ the way in which a particular set of linguistic categories relating to an object and the ways of depicting it frame the way we comprehend that object” (Bryman, 2012, p. 528). The discourse thus can be constituted by analyzing the language used and even more so, be used to understand social phenomena (Bryman, 2012). A comparison will be made between two different time periods in the Dutch housing market, both periods of extensive house price increases. The first case will be the reports of the media on the housing market in the period of January 2000 to December 2008, when the housing prices were growing extensively and the real estate bubble was at its highest point. This will be further explained in chapter 5. The second case study is the period between January 2014 and April 2018. At the same time, the research will also be explorative, since media discourse on the housing market will be drawn from a broad sample of newspaper articles. Possible problems that can occur with this form of research is the unavailability of newspaper articles through LexisNexis in the periods chosen. This was solved by the use of multiple search terms, as explained in paragraph 4.3.

4.2 Method

In order to perform the multiple case study of the two housing peaks, the gathered data has to be analyzed. In this research, a comparative discourse analysis will be combined with a content analysis on the language used by the five largest Dutch national newspapers to frame the housing market. Before the discourse analysis is done, a quantitative content analysis will be done to analyze underlying themes found in the data. Advantages to this method are the possibility of familiarizing with the context of certain descriptions on the housing market (e.g. negative associations or positive associations) and the ability to generate categories by which the coverage can be allocated (Bryman, 2012). This method thus helps establish the media discourse. By using a coding scheme to analyze the newspaper coverage, the discourse can be identified by coding certain outcomes into different categories. This will also give contextual information on the category of newspapers and its indicators and set a clear context of the words used.

4.3 Data collection

The data in this case will be a sample of newspaper articles that report on the housing market, collected through the database of LexisNexis and coded through the computer program Atlas.ti. The reviewed newspapers are De Telegraaf, Het Algemeen Dagblad (AD), De Volkskrant, NRC Handelsblad, Het Financieel Dagblad (FD) and Trouw. These newspapers are chosen based on the criteria of them being the six biggest, non-regional newspapers. Also, each of them has been published for at least fifty years, so they have established themselves on the Dutch market and have formed a secured number of readers. By keeping a broader sample, the context for the media discourse is determined more firmly. Table 4.1 gives an overview of the newspapers, their publisher, their political orientation and the circulation of the print edition in 2016.

TABLE 4.1: NEWSPAPER CHARACTERISTICS.

SOURCE: SVDJ (2018)

The availability of articles through LexisNexis is visualized in table 4.2, by the date of the first available article, the number of articles that have been found for the search term ‘huizenmarkt Nederland’ between the period of 2000-2008 and for the period between 2014-2018. The same is done for the search term ‘woningmarkt Nederland’ in table 4.3 since Dutch has two applicable terms for ‘housing market’. Both these two terms were chosen for their relevancy on descriptions of the Dutch housing market. Terms that are not being researched include ‘woning’ (1000 articles

available),‘huizenprijs’ (1000 articles available) or ‘huisprijsstijging’ (0 articles available). The first two search terms came up with too many articles that were affiliated with the topic of the housing market, but largely also covered different subjects. They were reviewed as not relevant enough to give a clear description of the housing market because they would only cover parts of the housing market, but not the market as a whole. Huisprijsstijging resulted in no articles for the periods selected and thus could not be taken into the research. After selection of the articles for both huizenmarkt and woningmarkt, the articles were carefully assorted on their relevance for descriptions of the Dutch housing market. Articles on foreign housing markets like the American, British and Chinese housing market and

duplicates were taken out. The relevant number and the original number of the articles that came out of the search are taken into table 4.2 and table 4.3. The first displayed number under the header of ‘number of articles’ is the

Newspaper Publisher Reader orientation Circulation (2016) Algemeen Dagblad De Persgroep Nederland No political or religious orientation, regional focus. 385.000 Financieel Dagblad FD Mediagroep

Focus on business and financial matters, no political orientation 50.000 NRC Handelsblad NRC media Liberal-oriented, politically right-wing oriented 151.000 De Telegraaf Telegraaf Media Groep (TMG) Family-oriented, center-right wing oriented

462.000 Trouw De Persgroep

Nederland

Orthodox-protestant roots, focus on religion and philosophy. Politically left-wing oriented 107.000 De Volkskrant De Persgroep Nederland Roman-catholic roots, focused on higher-educated, progressive readers. Politically left-wing oriented

between brackets presents the number of articles that originally came out of the search, including the articles that were irrelevant to the research.

TABLE 4.2: NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AVAILABLE THROUGH LEXISNEXIS ON SEARCH TERM ‘HUIZENMARKT NEDERLAND’.

SOURCE: LEXISNEXIS (2018)

TABLE 4.3: NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AVAILABLE THROUGH LEXISNEXIS ON SEARCH TERM ‘WONINGMARKT NEDERLAND’.

SOURCE: LEXISNEXIS (2018)

Together, these searches result in 223 relevant articles for the period of January 1, 2000 – December 31, 2008 and 300 articles for the period of January 1, 2014 – April 12, 2018. The discourse will be retrieved from a total sample of 523 articles from the six newspapers. For the period of 2000-2008, it did occur that some newspapers did not have articles available until a couple of years after 2000. By using both huizenmarkt and woningmarkt as a

Newspaper Date coverage starts on LexisNexis Number of articles 2000 – 2008 Number of articles 2014 - 2018 Total Algemeen Dagblad March 15, 2007 5 (9) 29 (31) 34 (40) Financieel Dagblad May 18, 2000 21 (77) 69 (102) 90 (179) NRC Handelsblad April 4, 2001 11 (21) 14 (17) 25 (38) De Telegraaf January 27, 2001 14 (18) 23 (28) 37 (46) Trouw June 17, 2006 7 (10) 19 (28) 26 (38) De Volkskrant August 29, 2001 21 (50) 23 (33) 44 (83) Total 79 (185) 177 (239) 256 (424) Newspaper Date coverage starts on LexisNexis Number of articles 2000 – 2008 Number of articles 2014 - 2018 Total Algemeen Dagblad November 6, 2000 10 (12) 39 (43) 49 (55) Financieel Dagblad January 17, 2001 67 (71) 23 (26) 90 (97) NRC Handelsblad January 19, 2000 31 (34) 16 (16) 47 (50) De Telegraaf February 21, 2003 14 (15) 11 (11) 25 (26) Trouw January 20, 2001 22 (23) 20 (23) 42 (46) De Volkskrant January 24, 2004 29 (30) 14 (17) 43 (47) Total 173 (185) 123 (136) 296 (321)

search term, this problem is resolved for the AD and Trouw. However, both de Volkskrant and de Telegraaf did not have any articles available before 2001. These newspapers thus will be taken into the research from 2001 instead of 2000. Because the AD has several regional print editions, there was only chosen to take the articles from the umbrella edition, also to prevent the duplication of articles. Lastly, for the FD chosen was to include articles that specifically only occurred on FD.nl. These are in addition to the articles from the print edition.

4.4 Data analysis

Content analysis is a method that can be used in qualitative research to provide analyses of multiple types of content in a structured way. By using a content analysis, social phenomena can be analyzed in a non-invasive way. The analysis can be organized into preselected categories and thus not only create a systemic outcome but also make the research replicable (Bryman, 2012). The data will be analyzed by the use of a coding scheme in Atlas.ti. In this coding scheme, predetermined words and word groups are used to allocate descriptions in articles to certain predetermined categories on the main concepts (Friese, 2014). The words that occur most frequently will be used to establish the discourse. The coding schemes that were used in this research can be found in Appendix A.

5

Establishing the

Market Context:

The Boom Periods

In this chapter, the market context for the period of 2000-2008 and the period of 2014-2018 are discussed. Light is shed on regulations by both the government and the financial sector in terms of subsidies and mortgages, to create the context and thus explain what market events the newspaper discourses are based on. Furthermore, we review the housing stock and the average house prices in order to understand the altering conditions on the housing market and as a result, the possible shift in discourse.

5.1 2000-2008

In the period of 2000 tot 2008, Dutch housing prices in both the rental and the owner-occupied sector went up and (aspiring) home-owners were given several new options in order to fund a new home. Explanations for these increases can be found in the (too) slowly expanding housing stock, the higher demand for dwellings in the owner-occupied sector and the

governmental and financial regulations that made becoming a home owner more attractive. The price increases are demonstrated in figure 5.1. In this figure, average housing prices in the Netherlands from January 2001 until July 2015 are represented. As illustrated, average housing prices went up from roughly €180.000 in January 2001 to €261.900 by August 2008.

FIGURE 5.1: AVERAGE HOUSING PRICES IN THE NETHERLANDS FROM JANUARY 2001 TO JULY 2015.

SOURCE: WEGWIJS VERDIEPING BASED OFF NUMBERS BY THE KADASTER, N.D.

The Dutch housing stock has expanded, especially from 2000 until 2006. The total housing stock consisted out of 6.651.000 homes in 2000, growing to 7.107.000 by 2006. In line with the neoliberalist landscape and the ideology of homeownership as discussed in chapter 2, homeownership percentages went up from 51% in 2000 to 57% of the total housing stock by 2006. This number stayed around the same level in the period of 2006-2008. The social housing stock, on the other hand, decreased from 40% in the

early 1990s to one-third by 2006. The number of privately owned rental housing decreased to only 11% of the total housing stock (OTB, 2010). Government regulation

The Dutch government had institutionalized several regulations for the owner-occupied sector. Two of these regulations stand out: the

‘Hypotheekrenteaftrek’, mortgage tax interest relief, and the ‘Nationale Hypotheekgarantie’ (NHG), the national mortgage guarantee. The

hypotheekrenteaftrek is a tax cut system, in which homeowners can deduct the mortgage interest of their income when filling in their tax returns. The system has been around since 1893 and declares a house a consumer good. Its main goal is to foster homeownership (Ekkers & Helderman, 2010). Partly due to this, high loans on housing property became common on the Dutch market (OTB, 2010). The NHG is a settlement that ensures mortgage loans for housing with a maximum price of €265.000 are always paid off, even if the owner cannot afford it. The NHG was constructed to assist starters and other households with lower incomes with the purchase of a home. With the financial securitization of the NHG, banks and other mortgage providers became more willing to lend households up to 100% of the worth of the property (OTB, 2010). Lastly, from 2000 a ‘buy subsidy’ became available for households with a lower income, to assist them in buying a house. This subsidy was secured in the ‘Wet bevordering eigenwoningbezit’, a law that was enforced to promote homeownership. With this subsidy, households could retrieve up to €120 per month, under the condition of also having NHG (Ekkers & Helderman, 2010).

Financial regulation

From the 1990s, the financing system for future home-owners has changed. The criteria by which mortgages were allocated were expanded, giving households the opportunity to lend much more money than before. The so-called ‘tweeverdienershypotheek’, or double-income mortgage, was introduced in 1992 and enlarged the maximum amount households could lend significantly (Boumeester, 2004). On top of that, households with a tweeverdienershypotheek also gained access to the NHG from 1996 (OTB, 2010). Next to this type of mortgage funding, two other types of loan agreements were introduced: the first being the

‘beleggershypotheek’ (investors mortgage), where household put a monthly payment into an investment portfolio and used the proceeds the fulfill the mortgage payment after thirty years. This type of mortgage decreased in popularity after the internet bubble burst in 2002/2003. The second innovation to the mortgage system was the ‘aflossingsvrije hypotheek’: a mortgage based on paying interest rates rather than paying off the actual mortgage loan. By not paying off the actual dwelling but only paying off the

interest rates on the loan, people put their trust in the value of their dwelling. The idea of this type of house loan was that by the time they actually had to start paying for their home, inflation rates would have accounted for such value increases, the value of the house would be much higher than the outstanding debt (OTB, 2010). This corresponds with the ‘irrational exuberance’ of Shiller (2005), as discussed in chapter 2. All three types of mortgages caused the financing options for a lot of households to be

expanded tremendously (Boumeester, 2004). Together with the willingness of Dutch aspiring homeowners to take on high debts in order to buy their wished home, due to the competition and pressure on the market, housing prices went up (Boumeester, 2004; OTB, 2010).

5.2 2014-2018

In the period of 2014-2018, the Dutch housing market is recovering from the recession on the housing market. Housing prices are increasing again, the housing stock is growing and the government, together with the banking sector, instated new regulations in order to try and protect the housing sector from future bust periods. The most important changes were restrictions for mortgage loans.

Housing prices and housing stock

In 2013, housing prices started to go up again, after a five year period of house price decreases. The low point was hit in June 2013 with an average house price of €206.100 (see figure 5.1), but in January 2014 this already went up to an average of €219.530. By March 2018, the average price had increased to €281.548. Even with inflation, the average price is now above the level they were by 2008 by about 6%. But not only did the average housing prices go up, the regional spread between housing prices has changed as well between 2008 and 2018. Figure 5.2 shows us the average housing price per municipality in the Netherlands in 2008. The darker the color of the municipality, the higher the average house price. However, figure 5.3 shows that the housing prices by 2017 have mainly increased in

municipalities surrounding the bigger cities in the Randstad area like Amsterdam and Utrecht and regional centers like Groningen and Maastricht. In more peripheric areas like Friesland, the province of Groningen, parts of Flevoland, Zeeland and Limburg, more municipalities reside in the category of lowest average housing price (CBS, 2018b).

FIGURE 5.2: AVERAGE HOUSE PRICES IN THE NETHERLANDS PER MUNICIPALITY IN 2008.

SOURCE: CBS STATLINE, 2018

FIGURE 5.3: AVERAGE HOUSE PRICES IN THE NETHERLANDS PER MUNICIPALITY IN 2017.

SOURCE: CBS STATLINE, 2018

The decrease in housing prices is combined with a continuing trend of younger households moving to regional bigger cities or the Randstad area, due to (amongst other conditions) the availability of education, jobs and

other provisions. This trend caused the above mentioned peripheric areas to become shrinking regions, where the generation of baby boomers and the elderly become the main residents (van Gerwen et al, 2017). However, due to the enlarged regional spread, the bigger cities keep growing. This growth is causing a shortage in the housing stock around the cities, whilst the shrinking regions have to deal with a surplus of housing supply. On January 1, 2015, the Dutch housing supply comprised 7.588.000 dwellings (BZK, 2016). This number has grown to over 7.7 million dwellings in 2018 (CBS, 2018b). The percentage of homeownership was at 55.8% in 2014 and has stayed around 56% up till 2018. The percentage of dwellings owned by housing

corporations went to 30% and the percentage of private landlords increased to 13.5% in 2014 (CLO, 2015).

Government and financial regulation

In 2009, the Dutch government temporarily raised the NHG house price limit from €265.000 to €350.000. in 2014, this limit was brought back again to €265.000. At the same time, Dutch municipalities had started to limit starters’ loans, a loan system that was found to help starters loan more money than they would be able to through a standard mortgage. The biggest change in regulation happened in March 2011, when the Ministry of Finance, banks, insurers and the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (the financial market authority or AMF) signed an agreement to instate the Gedragscode Hypothecaire Financiering (a code of conduct for mortgage financing/ GHF). The GHF was instated from August 2011 to reduce the number of mortgages that exceeded the value of the property. With the GHF in place, applicant lenders could only lend 106% of the purchase or market value of a house. In January 2013, this rule was extended by a built off in six years to 100% per January 1, 2018. Another addition made in January 2013 was the decision to cut the hypotheekrenteaftrek for interest-only mortgages

(aflossingsvrije hypotheken). Apart from the GHF, banks in general became more reluctant to extend mortgages in the years of economic recession. They restricted the maximum mortgage loan sums, as well as the requirements to contract a mortgage. Self-employed applicants or applicants with registered debts like college loans are hardly able to file for mortgage loans

(Boelhouwer, 2014). Another group that is having difficulties with accessing the owner-occupied sector are starters on the housing markets. Before the crisis, this group was given easier access to the market due to the ability to lend more than the market value of the house. At the same time as the GHF limiting their loan sum to 100% of the purchase, accessibility to affordable and fitting rental housing is also limited. Starters are now more limited due to factors as changed work contracts (e.g. more temporarily contracts over permanent employment), lower real wages, a shortage in the housing stock as opposed to the demand and the requirement to higher mortgage down payments (Lennartz et al, 2016).

6

Newspaper

discourse on the

housing market

6.1 introduction

In order to research how newspaper discourse has contributed to the construction of the housing market, firstly the discourses that were used are reviewed in this chapter. An answer is given to the question ‘what discourse has the media used to frame the housing market?’. After establishing the discourses for both the period of 2000-2008 and the period of 2014-2018, a representation of actors is reviewed, as a means to evaluate the extent to which newspapers have followed expert opinion and specialist ideas. Lastly, the representation of competing interests in the discourse is explored.

6.2 Newspaper discourses: 2000-2008

Characteristics

As illustrated in table 4.2 and table 4.3, a total sample of 370 articles was retrieved on the housing market in the Netherlands in the period of 2000 to 2008. Out of these 370 articles, 252 were analyzed in order to establish a discourse. Through these articles, a couple of key definitions were given on the housing market. These terms were visualized in a word cloud per newspaper (see appendix B).

Teo (2000) argued one of the key features in newspaper report is the use of the headlines and/or leads to both demonstrate the essence of the article, and direct the reader into a pre-determined position from which it can take in the text. Furthermore, the most important information in the article is featured in the first part, the less newsworthy items near the end, creating a framework by which the print media can control the way its readers take in the report. In addition to this, the newspapers appeal to the long-term memory of the reader for relevant background information, in order to parse the key message of the article (Teo, 2000). An example of how the Dutch newspapers have used this strategy was apparent from roughly 2000 to 2002, when print media focused articles on the enduring boom (blijvende hausse) on the housing market, like FDs 2000 article “Blijvende hausse op huizenmarkt is

zorgenkindje” (18 May 2000). The words ‘blijvende hausse’ obtain their

meaning by the presumed knowledge of the reader on the fact that there was a boom. Another example of directing the reader into a certain perception is visualized in figure 6.1. The figure shows the word cloud of the words used by newspaper Trouw to describe the housing market between 2000 and 2008. The words in the cloud can be separated in two categories: ones that are stimulating a positive perception, like ‘sterk’ (strong), ‘goed’ (good),

‘gezond’ (healthy), ‘stabiliteit’ (stability) and ‘vertrouwen’ (trust) and words that

‘star’ (rigid), ‘gekte’ (craziness), ‘kloof’ (dichotomy), ‘vastzit’ (stuck), ‘inefficiënte’ (inefficient), ‘moeilijk’ (hard), ‘duur/dure’ (expensive),

‘stagnatie’ (congestion) and ‘stilte/stilstand’ (standstill). The list of words directing the reader towards a negative perception of the housing market is almost four times as long as the list of positive words, pushing the reader towards a more negative view.

FIGURE 6.1: WORD CLOUD OF ARTICLES IN TROUW ON THE HOUSING MARKET, 2000-2008.

SOURCE: AUTHOR.

A second often appearing feature in the news report, was the need for restructuring of regulations on the housing market from 2006 onwards. Many of the newspapers reported on the need for stability in the market because the market appeared to be ‘crooked’. They discussed a dichotomy of the market: the rental sector versus the owner-occupied sector. A lot of reports were written on the problems on the market and the reforming that was needed; only the Dutch politicians seemed to neglect this according to the newspapers. There was called for an abolition of the

hypotheekrenteaftrek and change of the rental subsidy system, which put a ‘lock’ (op slot) on the market, impeded the ‘flow’ (doorstroming) of starters and middle-income households and thus caused a disruption. Table 6.2 shows articles that have appeared on the need for restructuring of the housing market, either to make the housing market more accessible to starters or change the subsidy system, additionally by diminishing or abolishing the hypotheekrenteaftrek.

TABLE 6.2: NEWSPAPER REPORTS FEATURING THE NEED FOR RESTRUCTURING.

Source Topic Headline

AD,

7 October 2006 Need for restructuring for starters

Startersfonds lost niks op’ – Roep om meer huizen om huizenmarkt weer vlot te trekken 


(Fund for starters is not solving anything – call for more housing in order to salvage the housing market)

De Volkskrant,

19 June 2007 Need for restructuring for starters and middle-income households

Bouw en maak woonbeleid voor middeninkomens

(Start constructions and create housing policy for middle-income households) De Volkskrant, 19 May 2006 Need for restructuring, abolition hypotheekrenteaftrek

CPB kan aanval op hypotheekrente verhevigen; Onderzoek zal nieuw licht werpen op effecten van ingrepen in woningsector

(CPB might intensify the attack on the hypotheekrenteaftrek; research will shed new light on the effects of intervention in the housing sector)

De Volkskrant,

6 July 2006 Need for restructuring, abolition

hypotheekrenteaftrek

Experts willen dat politici nadenken over de woningmarkt. Het CDA Weigert.

(Experts want politicians to consider the housing market. The CDA refuses)

De Volkskrant,

18 May 2006 Need for restructuring, abolition

hypotheekrenteaftrek

Miljarden voor huurtoeslag zijn weggegooid geld. Econoom Carl Koopmans denkt dat een algemene belastingverlaging welvaart meer bevordert dan aftrek hypotheekrente

(Billions for rent subsidies are a waste of money. Economist Carl Koopmans thinks general tax deductions will further wealth more than the hypotheekrenteaftrek)

Trouw, 17 June 2006 Need for restructuring, abolition hypotheekrenteaftrek

Dekker wil meer doorstroming

(Dekker wants the housing market to flow more) Trouw, 14 July 2006 Need for restructuring, abolition hypotheekrenteaftrek

CDA en VVD maken het jonge kopers moeilijk;

Hypotheekrenteaftrek

(CDA and VVD are making it hard for young homeowners;

hypotheekrenteaftrek) NRC, 27 November 2007 Need for restructuring, abolition hypotheekrenteaftrek

Vogelaar: woningmarkt moet worden aangepakt

(Vogelaar: housing market has to be dealt with next)

De Telegraaf,

8 August 2008 Need for restructuring, abolition

hypotheekrenteaftrek

DNB: Doorbreek taboes woningmarkt

(DNB: snap the taboos on the housing market)

Trouw, 28 October 2005

Need for restructuring of the subsidy system

PvdA wil toe naar één woontoeslag;

(PVDA wants to head towards one housing subsidy)

Trouw,

SOURCE: AUTHOR

A remarkable feature of these reports, is the reliance on different information sources from which the reports are constructed. Politicians were quoted 22 times, whilst market actors like the NVM, VEH, banks and academic experts were quoted 107 times. Also, there was a call for more housing construction, due to the problem of the low fitting supply. This also shows the emphasis on the group of starters on the market, who had difficulty in finding a suitable place to live. The (lack of) confidence (vertrouwen) in the market, which was low for this group, was discussed.

Another apparent feature in the reports from 2006 was the focus on United States, when reports started to appear on the pressure on the American market. Newspapers shifted between wondering whether the situation in the Netherlands was similar to the United States or not, as visualized in graph 6.3.

Trouw, 28 June 2007

Need for restructuring of the subsidy system

Waarom de woningmarkt vastzit

(Why the housing market is stuck)

Trouw, 18 October 2007

Need for restructuring

of the subsidy system Hervormingen woningmarkt kunnen niet langer wachten

(restructurings of the housing market cannot wait any longer)

Trouw,

16 May 2008 Need for restructuring of the subsidy system Nirov wil nieuw beleid voor de woningmarkt

(Nirov wants new policy on housing market)

Trouw, 11 December 2008

Need for restructuring of the subsidy system

Partijen huizenmarkt ruziën over brandbrief kredietcrisis

(Parties are brawling over pressing

letter credit crunch)

NRC,

28 March 2006

Need for restructuring of the subsidy system

“Liberalisering woningmarkt moet radicaler”

(“liberalization of housing market has to be done more radically”)

NRC, 17 October 2007

Need for restructuring

of the subsidy system “Aanbod woningen ver onder de maat” VROM-raadvoorzitter Meijdam en onderzoeker Boelhouwer over wonen

(“supply of housing far below par” VROM- councilman Meijdam and researcher Boelhouwer on housing)

De Telegraaf, 22 October 2008

Need for restructuring

of the subsidy system “Red huizenmarkt” VEH: Ingrijpen rijk vereist

(“Safe the housing market”: VEH: government intervention needed)

FIGURE 6.3: DESCRIPTION USED FOR THE HOUSING MARKET IN THE NETHERLANDS.

SOURCE: AUTHOR

The terms ‘zeepbel’ and ‘huizenmarktbubbel’, both pointing at a so-called bubble on the housing market, started to occur frequently. Also, a lot was spoken about the ‘craziness’ (gekte) on the market: “Gekte keert terug op de

huizenmarkt” (Volkskrant, 8 July 2006) ; In 2008, the International Monetary 1

Fund (IMF) released a report on overvaluation of the Dutch housing supply, having housing prices that were an estimated 30% above their actual worth. This was denied in every newspaper, often pointing out the special housing market in the Netherlands into account. This happened for instance in the Telegraaf “Wellink witheet op IMF; “Van rapport over huizenmarkt klopt niets!” (13 April 2008) , Trouw “IMF herziet waarschuwing huizenmarkt” (21 April 2008) 2 3

and NRC “Huizenzeepbel van IMF blijkt niet bestaan; hypotheek op twee inkomens en

jaren van achterblijvende nieuwbouw dragen bij aan hogere prijzen” (19 April 2008) . 4

According to the Volkskrant, the IMF report was incorrect, but the

newspaper did point out that the housing market was starting to cool down;

“De Nederlandse huizenmarkt koelt af ” (15 April 2008) , although other reports 5

pointed out that the prices were not about to drop: “Huizenprijzen zullen hoog

blijven” (FD, 19 February 2008) and “Geen grote zorgen bij makelaars – 6

‘Nederlandse huizenmarkt is met een plofje geland’” (AD, 10 October 2008) . 7

Translation: ‘Craziness returns on the housing market’

1

Translation: ‘Wellink infuriated with the IMF, the report on the housing market is incorrect’

2

Translation: ‘IMF revises warning on the housing market’

3

Translation: ‘The housing bubble of the IMF appears not to exist; mortgages are based on

4

two incomes and years of falling behind in construction works have contributed to higher housing prices’

Translation: ‘The Dutch housing market is cooling down’.

5

Translation: ‘Housing prices will remain high’

The newspapers used a number of reoccurring words to describe the housing market. The most common descriptions between 2000 and 2008 were:

• Hausse/hype/gekte/verstoord (boom/hype/craziness/disrupted, 21 mentions): In the early 2000s, housing prices just had started to increase. This led to newspaper calling the market disrupted and put under pressure.

• Gezond/ aantrekken (healthy, getting on, 13 mentions): at the same time, it was described as healthy and getting on, minor price drops had occurred but this was considered to be a healthy correction.

• Stilstand/ afkoelen/vastzitten/op slot/star/overwaardering (standstill/cooling down/being stuck/being locked/rigid/overvaluation, 75 mentions) In the period leading towards the crisis, the market was often described as being stuck, due to the lack of reformations by the government. Housing prices were high, there was a shortage in the housing stock due to too little construction works and the group of starters that had no available homes to move into.

• Speciale situatie (special situation, 16 mentions): The Dutch housing market was not similar to other countries like the United States, Spain and Ireland. This had to do with the ‘special situation’ on the Dutch market of both a shortage in housing supply and different mortgage funding. The housing shortage even caused the NVM to call the housing market ‘not a real market’ (NRC, 11 April 2008), due to the inability of moving housing supply to places with a high demand.

• Vertrouwen/bloeien (faith/flourishing,10 mentions): for homeowners, the years before the credit crisis were positive, because their houses had high values and were selling at high prices.

• Afkoelen/inzakken/ongezond/ziek/overspannen/zeepbel (cooling down/ collapse/ unhealthy/sick/wrought-up/bubble, 30 mentions): in 2008, the increase of the house prices started to slow down. The market started to cool, although at first it was believed this was healthy. But by the end of 2008, it became apparent the house prices had been a bubble.

Most influential actors

The most quoted market actors and experts across all the newspapers were: Institutions

• Nederlandse Vereniging voor Makelaars (NVM): 49 articles, the Dutch association for real estate agents

• Vereniging Eigen Huis (VEH): 23 articles
 The association for (aspiring) home-owners • International Monetary Fund (IMF): 16 articles

• Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS): 7 articles, the central bureau of statistics in the Netherlands