Housing Finance Policy under Dutch Disease Pressure: The Mortgage Market in Trinidad and Tobago

This work analyzes housing finance in Trinidad and Tobago during the last 20 years. The period covered is influenced by an economic bonanza led by the energy sector. Housing prices in this period skyrocketed, but the demand for mortgage loans was low. The results suggest that this is explained by affordability problems in the dynamics of the new post-shock equilibrium, as housing prices increased more rapidly than wages. Public housing finance also played a role, but in recent times it has been more prudently managed than during the previous boom of the 1970s.