Reverting to informality: Unregistered property transactions and the erosion of the titling reform in Peru

Titling programs have focused mostly on providing initial tenure security and have not properly addressed maintaining the formality of future property transactions. Deregularization due to unregistered transactions can threaten the long-run success of titling programs. In this study, we document the incidence of unregistered property transactions in urban slums in Peru. We also exploit a natural experiment to identify how costly and burdensome registration policies can increase property deregularization. Overall, our findings stress the necessity of considering specific components—those aimed at maintaining properties formally in the medium and long terms—in the design of urban titling programs.