ABSTRACT
Housing finance has risen to the top of urban policy and research agendas in recognition of the role that it can play in the delivery of shelter (Jones and Datta, 2000; UN-Habitat, 2005b). In turn, well-functioning housing finance systems have a potentially beneficial impact upon both housing and financial sectors, thereby contributing to economic development (Buckley, 1996; Datta and Jones, 1999). Deeply informed by wider neo-liberal economic reform undertaken in developing countries in the 1980s, housing finance is embedded in the enabling approach. 1
