Publications on Housing & Land Markets

The purpose of this note is to help both local and national government officials think through possible strategies for addressing one of the fundamental issues facing Serbian municipalities today: How do Serbian local governments increase the revenues they need to improve their public infrastructure while simultaneously creating an environment favorable to private investment and local economic development? This is a dilemma that local governments face throughout the world but which is particularly pressing in many developing and transition countries where local governments must address huge deficits in urban infrastructure without at the same time over taxing their business communities upon which their future growth depends. It is also of particular importance in Nis, the third largest city in Serbia and the economic engine of the southern and least developed part of the country.

The Urban Institute worked with five cities in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan to apply better management practices through the development of Strategic Land Management Plans. UI worked with local governments to make an inventory of municipal land, publicize the results, and develop a strategy that articulated principles for land management. This led to several improvements including proper registration of parcels and proactive policies to lease and sell land through open competition. It also established a model for determining public policy that countered corruption and public deliberation of costs and benefits in the use of local assets. Donor involvement was also critical to success.

This Baltimore Examiner commentary explains how government agencies and elected officials can make informed decisions about when or whether to sell property and how to set a fair price.

With more cities and states looking to reap new funds from the sale or lease of assets, two experts discuss strategies governments can use to get the most out of each deal.

Governments own a vast array of real property—from large stretches of land to public housing projects, from water distribution systems and roads to office buildings. Typically, management of public property is highly fragmented, with responsibility for each type of asset falling within a different agency or bureaucracy. In almost all countries, different classes of property are managed according to their own rules, often following traditional practices rather than any assessment of what type of management is appropriate. Over the past decade, however, a new discipline has emerged that examines this important component of public wealth and seeks to apply standards of economic efficiency and effective organizational management. Managing Government Property Assets reviews and analyzes this recent wave of activity. The authors draw upon a wide variety of national and local practices, both in countries that have been leaders in management reforms and in countries just beginning to wrestle with the problem. This comparison reveals that the issues of public property management are surprisingly similar in different countries, despite striking differences in institutional contexts and policy solutions.