This article evaluates statutory provisions and case law regarding a mortgagee's rights to exercise its statutory power of sale over the matrimonial home in Nigeria. It reveals that no statute protects the rights of family members, particularly wives and children, in the mortgaged home. The mortgagee must grapple with the reality of ownership, as wives often resort to litigation to set aside sales, on the ground that they are joint owners with their husbands. Ironically, some Supreme Court decisions, while protecting the interests of other family members (contrary to the established principles of property law), have tended to ignore the mortgagee's power of sale over the mortgaged matrimonial home, thus making it unattractive to lending institutions as collateral. This article recommends that all parties’ interests should be set out in a legal framework, as in England, where a non-owning spouse's right of occupation must be registered with the land registry.

The family home is the most important asset on household balance sheets, aside from human capital. Choosing a suitable mortgage is therefore critical to financial well-being but households often make costly mistakes. We collect data in an online survey to test borrowers’ comfort with, and understanding of, mortgage debt. We analyze the impact of financial literacy, mortgage broker advice and whether the loan is framed as a lump sum debt or an equivalent stream of repayments. We conjecture that participants’ comfort with loans and their ability to match lump sum debt to equivalent repayment streams will help them to choose a suitable mortgage. Results show that participants with high financial literacy are less comfortable with mortgage debt in general and also less sensitive to framing than those with low financial literacy. Literate participants are better able to match repayment streams with the equivalent lump sums. Endogeneity-controlled regression analysis shows that consulting brokers leads to higher comfort with debt and lower sensitivity to framing. Survey responses also indicate more uncertainty about future house prices among borrowers who intend to consult brokers than among those who do not.

The institutional changes of the mid-19th century made the modernisation of the Brazilian economy possible, as well as that of credit relations. We sought to evaluate the mortgage market before and after the 1864 reform and the institution of the Banco do Brasil's mortgage portfolio in 1867. We found a very comprehensive market throughout the territory in 1855-1859, although concentrated in the main urban centres. The evidence shows the expansion of mortgages after the two measures taken, but at the end of the 19th century this expansion came to an end.

This paper describes the Danish mortgage system by comparing it with the UK mortgage system. The Danish mortgage system has attracted attention in the literature on the design of mortgage systems. It is a type of narrow banking model where mortgage loans are financed by specialised institutions that issue bonds with cash flows that match that of the mortgage loans. Thereby, the Danish mortgage system outsources many of the risks that are usually kept on the balance sheet of banks to bond investors. Measured in terms of four criteria, the Danish mortgage system performed better during the financial crisis than the UK mortgage system. However, both in Denmark and the UK, alignment of the mortgage and the pension systems could offer significant advantages.

The Canadian system of housing finance proved to be resilient and efficient during the global financial crisis and its aftermath. The system's effectiveness is the result of a rigorous prudential regulatory and supervisory regime coupled with targeted government guarantees of mortgage insurance and securitisation products. In the post-crisis period, household debt levels and house prices have risen, owing, in part, to accommodative monetary conditions necessary to support the economic recovery. These vulnerabilities were mitigated by tightening macroprudential policy, specifically mortgage insurance rules, and strengthening mortgage-underwriting standards. Looking ahead, the housing finance framework needs to be adjusted and strengthened by rebalancing the risk exposures away from the government towards the private sector participants in the housing finance market. Although some measures have already been taken for this purpose, more adjustments may be needed to create the right incentives and achieve a sustainable rebalancing in risk exposures. Measures should also be considered to promote a liquid private-label mortgage securitisation market in Canada.

The previous administration introduced several measures to prevent mortgage possessions, some of which were modestly effective. However, these hastily introduced initiatives were insufficient to bridge the gap between a fragmented policy framework and borrowers’ circumstances and experiences of managing mortgage debt. The present restructuring of welfare and regulation represents a unique window to address these long-standing policy omissions in relation to sustainable homeownership in the UK. However, in the context of weakening state support, it is uncertain how or indeed whether, the opportunity to reform mortgage safety nets will be grasped. This article reflects upon the continuing misalignment of policy with borrowers’ circumstances and experiences of mortgage arrears using new evidence from this downturn.