David Mason, Geoffrey Payne and Meskerem Brhane

World Bank, Geoffrey Payne and

Associates

March 24, 2014

Land, land everywhere, but not a service to link: Land

Policy and Urban Expansion in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

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Presentation Overview

Introduction and Context

Literature on Title and Tenure Security

Mongolia: Legal and Institutional Context

Urban Expansion and Market Distortions

Conclusion and Next Steps

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Urbanization and Change in Mongolia

Large, scarcely populated Most urbanized in EAP regionMarket transitionProgressive land and shelter policy

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The Benefits of Land Title

Property rights are an important component of economic growth

Land title and poverty alleviation Limits to land title

Investment in land and housing independent of title

Title does not always influence collateralization

What else should be considered along with prior to land title?

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Land Administration System

Three types of rights afforded to land Possession rights (renewable) Ownership rights User rights (subject to frequent renewal)

UB residents allowed plot of up to 700m2 by law

Affordable, widely held by poor and ger area residents

Allocation of plots opaque

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Challenges with current system Availability of land has encouraged low-

density growth Large informal sales market in ger areas System does not record sales prices or

values Fees and taxes associated with land are

small and based on fixed values Banks do not want to collateralize plots Network infrastructure is incomplete and

access drives market prices

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Next Steps and Future Research Considerations for financing

infrastructure Reform land valuation and taxation system Tax apartments Incremental upgrading and

self-taxation/betterment districts Ongoing research

Improving description of informal markets in ger areas

Estimating value gained through infrastructure connections