Mortgage Insurance: Past and Present - A Perspective from Germany

The home ownership rate in Germany is one of the lowest in Europe; countries such as Great Britain and the US have achieved significantly higher rates. Housing construction too has been impacted by government aid cuts; when the government allowance for owner/occupiers was abolished, a feverish search

began for sustainable concepts that would make home ownership possible for wider sections of the population. As attempts are made to integrate housing promotion into the statesubsidized system of private old age provisioning, German financial services providers are beginning to secure residential mortgage loans by way of Mortgage Insurance. This insurance product enables lenders to offer residential mortgage loans to borrowers with a substantially lower down payment than was usual in the past. Moreover, Mortgage Insurance can reduce the level of regulatory capital a lender will need to hold under the new Basel Il Capital Accord, reflected through the Solvabilitätsverordnung (SoIvV) in Germany. Mortgage Insurance, which has proven itself abroad for years, is now establishing itself in the German market.