'Owner-occupied housing is in decline, and not just in Spain.'

More than 90% of Singaporeans are homeowners, one of the highest rates among rich countries, as reported by The Economist. Singapore is a great place to live. It is wealthy and stable, with almost no crime. The streets here are clean. Singapore confirms the long-held belief of conservatives: owning your own home makes people richer and happier. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister, was a big fan of it and claimed it gives citizens "a steak in the country and its future." Singapore's program is said to have influenced Margaret Thatcher's "right to buy" program in the 1980s, which allowed Britons living in public housing to buy their property by''purchasing their own homes. Official estimates suggest that the government loses more than $200 billion a year (more than 1% of GDP) by helping homeowners financially through policies that include tax deductions for mortgage interest. Mark Zandi of Moody'\''s Analytics points out that the mortgage assistance provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-subsidized companies backing most of the nation's residential mortgages, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development amounts to about $9 billion a year.

Despite the tax incentives, the factors that are putting downward pressure on homeownership are getting stronger. One is the reduced interest of young people in home buying. Many''Millennials prefer to pay per service, per use. And the private sector has noticed this opportunity. For example, more companies are building apartment complexes with common spaces such as kitchens, gyms or laundry rooms.

Economic factors may also be another reason for the decline in home ownership. Since the recession, young people have been struggling to save to use in a down payment when buying a home. But tighter regulation of mortgage markets since the global financial crisis, not just in Spain, ers have made it harder for young buyers to get financing. "Baby boomers," looking for a place to invest their savings, are becoming homeowners. At the same time, millennials are having an increasingly difficult time because of student''debt, especially in the US.

It seems unlikely that home ownership rates in the English-speaking world will ever approach Germany (with only 44%) or Switzerland (40%). Home ownership rates are a result of history and culture. Countries with a history of weak real housing value growth - Germany and Switzerland meet these requirements - have lower homeownership rates because fewer people see buying a home as an attractive investment. Places with high population densities also have lower ownership rates. People are generally less interested in an apartment in a high-rise building than in a private home (55% of Germans live in apartments, which is high by international standards).

Politicians across the rich''The world regrets the emergence of the Rental Generation'.

The low home ownership rate is not necessarily a cause for concern, however. For one thing, home ownership does not always lead to family wealth. The evidence that home ownership is good for society is rather weak. For example, Romania probably has the highest home ownership rate in the world at 96%, but it also has some social problems. Switzerland,''at the other end of the scale, has low crime and high social trust.

There are other negative consequences of home ownership. For example, the stress of paying a large mortgage.

Home ownership also causes more subtle economic harms. According to the study, property owners with mortgage debt are 30% less likely to become entrepreneurs. Committing to more mortgage debt can make people reluctant to take on more risk.

As the rental market grows and the Rental Generation grows stronger, governments are making greater efforts to improve the sector. Rent control is an increasingly popular measure. London mayor Sadiq Khan has advocated limiting growth''rents in the capital. Berlin's legislation recently passed a five-year rent freeze. Paris brought back rent control last year, abolishing it in 2017. Such interventions are inappropriate. Rent control mostly discourages investment in new construction, the last thing many cities need is it.

Many politicians in English-speaking countries focus on Germany. There, renting is not considered "second-class" ownership. It's safe enough: the average lease term is 11 to 12 years, compared to two to three years in the UK.

The German experience will be difficult to replicate. In Germany, owners treat tenants well, not just because they are kind, but also because they have''profit in a world with low interest rates, but also because the number of potential customers is growing.