2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：戳破房地产泡沫

　　The Netherlands has applied strict limits of this sort, with striking results. In 2011, with theeuro crisis in full swing, the average new mortgage in the Netherlands was 112% of theproperty's value, putting Dutch household debt among the highest in Europe. The authoritieshastily introduced a host of restrictions: LTV was capped at 106% in 2012 and is due to fall to100% by 2018; capital requirements for banks were raised immediately. The government is alsogradually reducing the tax break for interest payments on mortgages. These changes, alongwith the economic downturn, were enough to push prices down 20% in three years in realterms (after accounting for inflation, that is).

　　荷兰已经上述严格的限制付诸于实践，随之而来的是显著的结果。在2011年。随着欧元区危机的全面展开，荷兰平均的新的抵押贷款是其财产价值的112%，使荷兰人的家庭债务在欧洲名列前茅。于是当局伧俗的出台了一系列限制措施：2012年贷款价值比率的上限106%并且要于2018年下降至100%;银行的资本要求也即刻被提高。政府也将逐渐降低抵押贷款付息的所得税宽减额。这些改变，随着经济的衰退，足够使按实际值计算的物价在三年内下降20%。

　　In contrast, neighbouring Belgium, where house prices had moved in tandem with Dutch onesuntil 2010, has taken a hands-off approach. As a result, while Dutch house prices haveplunged, Belgian ones have increased by 11%. Belgium's market is now so overpriced that itsbuyers are credited with helping revive prices in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands bymoving over the border.

　　相比之下，在相临近的比利时，其房价在2010年之前都与荷兰不相上下，却采取了不干涉的办法。因此，当荷兰的房价下跌之时，比利时的房价却又增长了11%。比利时的房价现今已如此之高导致购房者认为穿越国境线而举家搬迁到荷兰的东南部才能有助于房价的回落。

　　To make matters more difficult for policymakers, Europe's property booms tend to beconcentrated in capital cities, which are growing for the most part, even as other regionsstagnate. Ireland provides an especially garish example. It is still full of ghostly developments ofnever-occupied houses. Yet in Dublin, which needs 8,000 new homes a year, fewer than 1,400were built last year. That has helped to drive local house prices up by 23% over the past year,even as the property market in the rest of the country rose by a modest 5%.

　　是决策者们更加为难的是，欧洲的房地产泡沫往往集中于那些即使其他地方止步不前而其自身发展却依然大踏步前进的首都城市。爱尔兰就提供了一个非常特别的例子。那些从未被入住的房子如幽灵般疯狂的增长。然而在都柏林这样每年都有8,000套住房需求的地方，其去年建造的新房却还不到1,400套。这使得当地的房价在过去的一年里上涨了23%，而该国家其他地区的房价只是适度的增长了5%。

　　In most growing European cities new construction is impeded by a thicket of planningrestrictions, which could only be cut back with great political effort. The number of new homescompleted in the European Union fell by a third between 2011 and 2013. Only three countriesstarted building more homes last year than in the year before. In Paris the shortage of newhomes is so acute that stories of illegal dwellings in cupboards and garages abound.

　　在欧洲的大多数城市新的工程都受到了通过极大地政治干预而所获得的规划限制的阻碍。新房的建成数量在2011到 2013之间减少了三分之一。只有英国、德国以及比利时这三国的房子较之去年有所增长。在巴黎房源的短缺非常严重，非法居住于碗橱以及车库的故事比比皆是。

　　Some countries have come up with clever measures to whittle down their housing deficits. Thismonth Britain's central government launched a website that maps all its land and buildings, fromoffices to prisons, and invites the public to suggest better uses for them under a new “right tocontest”. It has promised to release for sale any property whose current use it cannotjustify. Another quick fix is to make it easier to convert unused offices and shops into houses.

　　一些国家已经想出一些妙招来削减其住房赤字。本月英国中央政府建立了一个网站囊括了其从办公室到监狱的所有的土地以及建筑物，并且邀请公众在一个全新的“比赛”中来赋予它们更好的用途。政府已承诺会释放出售任何当前使用不当的房产。另一个权宜之计是将未使用的办公室和商店更容易变成住房。

　　Perhaps the most striking innovation has been in Sweden, which in July began lettinglandowners build tiny rental cottages in their gardens, without any need for planningpermission. These Attefallshus, can have a footprint of no more than 25 square metres and aheight of no more than four metres. That is small, but it beats living with mum.

　　或许最影人瞩目的创新是在瑞典，七月份开始他们允许业主可以在不需要任何规划许可的情况下在其花园内构建微型住房。这些Attefallshus占地不超过25平方米高度不超过4米。小是小了一点，但也不至于和妈妈住在一起了。

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