A/HRC/10/7 page 14 from public to private hands.43 The impact of housing privatization on the population has varied from country to country44 but concerns have been raised that this very rapid privatization has been implemented without taking sufficiently into account the impact it could have on the most vulnerable.45 In the same countries, more restrictive public housing financing, housing privatization and liberalization of construction and utility prices has resulted in a decrease of housing affordability and of new construction.46 39. The increasing commercialization of housing associations and housing companies has also been noted in countries in transition. Their consequent adoption of financial risk avoidance strategies has the effect of drawing social housing away from a focus on the most deprived and at risk households; the vetting of tenants for reliability and the use of eviction orders are symptomatic of this process.47 40. Accompanied by financial system deregulation, housing finance has also become increasingly important in developing countries where in many cases the outstanding mortgage debt is in excess of 10 per cent of GDP (but less than 20 per cent, which is still low compared with 100 per cent in Denmark or 75 per cent in the United States).48 As late as 2006, the World Bank was still quite optimistic concerning this development of housing finance in developing countries. It believed that “for housing finance in developing countries, further deregulation and expansion seem almost inevitable. The genie is out of the bottle, and if prudently managed, can be expected to confer enormous benefits.”49 41. This optimism has now been reviewed, taking into consideration that emerging financial markets have been damaged by losses from opaque off balance sheet entities and that smaller 43 See footnote 8 above. 44 See R. Yemtsov, Housing Privatization and Household Wealth in Transition, United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economic Research, Research Paper No. 2007/02, January 2007. 45 “As public housing is often the only affordable housing available on the housing market, efforts by central or local Governments to sell almost all the public housing stock has had considerable consequences for needy households.” (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Housing Finance Systems for Countries in Transition, Principles and Examples, 2005, p. 4). 46 Ibid. 47 See footnote 37 above. 48 See footnote 6 above, p. 32-33. 49 See footnote 8 above, p. 41.