In the late 1980s and early 1990s the American philosopher and political economist Francis Fukuyama triggered considerable debate with his argument that with the advent of Western liberal democracy humanity had reached the ‘end of history’ as further sociocultural evolution appeared unlikely. Fukuyama's (1992) work has been critiqued heavily, but his ideas highlight the ways in which policies and social practices appear to have converged across nations. Similarly, there are strong international parallels in many aspects of housing policy and the operation of housing markets. The globalisation of financial markets has contributed to the apparent integration of housing markets around the globe, but other contributing factors have included broader shifts in global economic prosperity – at least for the developed world – and deliberate strategies of policy transfer across international borders. It is important to acknowledge that cross-national research plays a valuable role within the social sciences and can lead to robust, transferable conclusions that can be applied in a variety of contexts, and not just those discussed in any one work or research study (Przeworksi and Teune 1970). In many respects the countries discussed in this chapter constitute a ‘most similar systems’ approach where attention is focused on the differences between otherwise very similar systems. There are strong convergences among the nations discussed here, as each is predominantly English speaking and occupies a ‘liberal’ position within Epsing-Anderson's (1990) categorisation of welfare regimes.

This chapter sets out to consider the evolution of housing policy in three nations: the UK, the US and Australia. It does so in order to understand the geographical and historical settings for lifetime movements through the housing market. These insights then shed light on the transferability of the understandings we develop between nations and the balance between universal and nationally specific processes in shaping housing transitions. It is important to acknowledge that we need to comprehend the evolution and articulation of housing policies over a relatively long time frame, as past housing policies often have a greater influence on lifetime housing than current government frameworks.

The UK

Housing provision in the UK changed enormously during the 20th century in terms of quality, the balance of tenures and dwelling types (Lund, 2006; Mullins and Murie, 2006). There was never a settled structure of provision, with regular predictable patterns of access to housing and a single set of routine transitions during life courses.