Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/SheilaOLeary

This exploration combines and analyzes information from three sources to assess the potential effects the GSEs' underwriting and appraisal guidelines on the funding of loans on properties affordable to lower-income people and in underserved areas, and the impacts automated underwriting and credit scoring technology have on low- to moderate-income and minority borrowers. In addition, it includes information about lenders' perceptions about the effects of the GSEs' guidelines on minority mortgage applicants, since minorities' lower average incomes and wealth mean that underwriting guidelines are likely to disqualify higher proportions of minority applicants.

These proceedings summarize the Central and Eastern European (CEE) Housing Loan Recovery Colloquium held in Budapest, Hungary, on December 16 and 17, 1996. The main participant countries were Hungary, Slovakia, and Croatia. Representatives from other countries, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, and the United States, also attended. The purpose of the colloquium was to provide an international exchange of implementation and policy experience on housing loan recovery in CEE countries—an area that needs strengthening in the mortgage lending programs of most countries in this region.

This article probes the financial and legal implications of Russian enterprise housing divestiture from the perspective of municipalities and enterprises. Since the early 1990s, the federal government mandated that privatizing enterprises divest their housing stock to local authorities. While enterprises, the federal government, and the international donor community were eager to implement the divestitures, local governments feared the financial burden of accepting the stock. The authors use interviews with enterprise directors and local government officials in three Russian cities to determine the bottlenecks in the divestiture process. The report concludes with a general assessment and recommendations for containing the immediate costs to cities.

This paper discusses the legal and procedural framework within which the private sector real estate market has developed in Russia and describes how transactions take place with emphasis on the contracts used. Research for this paper was conducted in 1994 and reflects the state of affairs at that time. Topics discussed are factors affecting the structure of real estate transactions, the anatomy of a real estate transaction, and contracts used in these transactions. Appendixes provide a list of documents needed for a title search, a comparison of U.S. and Russian closing fees, sample agreements from various Russian cities, and model agreements.

This report is an outline of the basic laws—existing and in development—of the Russian Federation and the city of Moscow that relate to housing and urban development issues addressed in the U.S. Agency for International Development's technical assistance mission to Russia and the city of Moscow. Included is a listing of general commercial law, mortgage and finance law, housing law, land law, town planning law, condominium law, property registration law, and law pertaining to federalism and intergovernmental relations.

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