Homeownership rates and holdings of housing wealth differ immensely across countries. We specify and estimate a life cycle model with risky labor income and house prices in which households face a discrete-continuous choice between renting and owning a house, whose sale is subject to transaction...

In this paper, we study the role of wealth transfers in shaping homeownership in Malta. Leveraging data from four waves of the Maltese Household Finance and Consumption Survey, we perform a logistic regression to investigate how financial inflows in the form of gifts or inheritances, affect (i)...

Homeownership rates and holdings of housing wealth differ immensely across countries. Using micro data from five economies, we estimate a life-cycle model with illiquid housing in which households face a discrete-continuous choice between renting and owning a house. We use the model to decompose...

This study explores the relationship between income growth and housing prices in Poland's seven largest cities from 2013 to 2024. Through statistical analysis, the research reveals a strong correlation between average gross wages, and both offer and transaction prices in the real estate market,...

Do older workers change their labor supply in response to unexpected housing wealth losses (or gains)? Housing wealth is the largest component in most older Americans' portfolios, and they may seek to recoup losses by working longer to help smooth consumption in retirement. Despite its...

This paper examines how homeownership status shapes attention to inflation and its impact on durable consumption. Using randomized controlled trials on U.S. households (2021-2023), we document systematic heterogeneity in responses to inflation-related information. Homeowners exhibit greater...

"Right to Buy" (RTB) was a large-scale UK housing policy whereby incumbent tenants in public housing could buy their properties at heavily subsidised prices. The policy increased the national homeownership rate by over 10 percentage points between 1980 and the late 1990s. A key feature of RTB is...

This study examines the geographical spillover of the state-level average homeowners insurance cost for 48 US contiguous states. We estimate a panel spatial Durbin model with state and year fixed effect for data between 2001 and 2018. We found a significant positive spillover of average...

This paper introduces an innovative sell-type home reversion product aimed at monetizing Singapore's public flats, serving as a new alternative to the existing Singapore Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS). This new product not only retains the LBS's guaranteed period of residence in the property along...

Homeownership rates and holdings of housing wealth differ immensely across countries. We specify and estimate a life cycle model with risky labor income and house prices in which households face a discrete–continuous choice between renting and owning a house, whose sale is subject to...

Increasing homeownership has been a long-standing policy objective of many western economies. However, homeownership rates have stalled across many of these countries in recent years due to the significant volatility many housing markets have experienced with house prices, in particular, varying...

We study optimal housing taxation in a Mirrleesian framework where individuals differ in both labor productivity and land ownership. Housing services are produced by combining scarce land with structures that require maintenance, which can be performed either in-house or through market...

Almost half of mortgage lending to homeowners in Denmark consists of 30-year fixed-rate loans. The loans are callable, so homeowners can redeem their loan and take out a new one if, for example, they want to refinance at a lower rate if interest rates fall. We calculate a financial incentive for...

Many studies indicate that the share of homeowners among young Millennials born in the 1980s is consistently lower across Europe than among Generation X, primarily born in the 1970s, at the same age. The reasons for this disparity - whether it rather stems from increased economic constraints...

We use the American Community Survey microdata and employ difference-in-differences (DID) models to examine how local immigration law enforcement, through 287(g) agreements and the Secure Communities program, impacts homeownership among different demographic groups. The findings indicate that...

The study examines housing affordability in Germany from 2017 to 2023 in light of rising real estate prices and challenges in the housing market. It uses the Housing Affordability Index to identify trends and patterns and propose policy measures to tackle the problems. The results show regional...

"Right to Buy" (RTB) was a large-scale UK housing policy whereby incumbent tenants in public housing could buy their properties at heavily subsidised prices. The policy increased the national homeownership rate by over 10 percentage points between 1980 and the late 1990s. A key feature of RTB is...

Using longitudinal, nationally representative data from Australia, this study uncovers a previously undocumented pattern: in over half of cases where one household member reports weather-related home damage, their co-resident does not. This high rate of intra-household inconsistency is striking,...

Using a monthly panel dataset of individuals' debt, we show that house price changes can explain a significant fraction of personal debt composition dynamics. We exploit the variation in local house price growth as shocks to homeowners' housing wealth to study the consequential adjustment of...

This study examines how demographic changes lead to different household structures and housing choices among different age groups. It argues that the cointegration of demography, housing market, and wealth have shaped housing demand in the country over time. The results have important often...

In this Staff Memo we explore the determinants of unsecured consumer debt among Norwegian households using detailed administrative data from 2020 to 2024. We identify a set of key drivers, including life-cycle patterns, labor market shocks, and homeownership transitions. Our findings reveal that...