| Literature DB >> 29323357 |
Barend Wind1, Philipp Lersch2, Caroline Dewilde1.
Abstract
Housing wealth is the largest source of household wealth, but we know little about the distribution of housing wealth and how institutions have shaped this distribution. Subsidies for homeownership, privatisation of social housing and mortgage finance liberalisation are likely to have influenced the distribution of housing wealth in recent decades. To examine their impact, we describe housing wealth inequalities across occupational classes for two birth cohorts aged fifty and older. The analysis is conducted across 16 European countries with divergent welfare states and housing systems using the fourth wave of the survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe (SHARE; 2011/2012). Our results indicate that the expansion of homeownership in a market-based housing system is associated with a more unequal distribution of housing wealth across occupational classes, as an increasing number of 'marginal' owners are drawn into precarious homeownership. Such a pattern is not found in housing wealth accumulation regimes with a less market-based provision of housing. When the state or the family drive homeownership expansion, a de-coupling of labour market income and housing consumption results in a more equal distribution of housing wealth.Entities:
Keywords: Homeownership expansion; Housing finance liberalisation; Housing regime; Housing wealth; Political economy of housing
Year: 2016 PMID: 29323357 PMCID: PMC5744614 DOI: 10.1007/s10901-016-9540-3
Source DB: PubMed Journal: J Hous Built Environ ISSN: 1566-4910
Overview of housing wealth accumulation regimes.
Source: Atterhög and Song (2009), De Decker (1990), Dol and Haffner (2010), Donner (2000), Miles and Pillonca (2008) Oswald (1999), Warnock and Warnock (2008)
| Housing wealth accumulation regime | Country | Homeownership rate in | Normal loan-to-value (2005–2010) (%) | Loan maturity in years (2005–2010) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 (%) | 1980 (%) | 2010 (%) | ||||
| Regulated rental | Germany | 29 | 30 | 53 | 70–80a | 20–30 |
| Switzerland | 34 | 30 | 44 | 65 | 15–20 | |
| Austria | 38 | 52 | 57 | 70–85a | 25 | |
| Privatised rental | Estonia | x | 26 | 86 | 70–75 | Up to 30 |
| Poland | x | 36 | 81 | 80–100 | 5–32.5 | |
| Czech Republic | x | 53 | 79 | 70–85a | 20 | |
| Regulated expansion | Belgium | 50 | 59 | 72 | 80–90 | 20 |
| France | 42 | 47 | 62 | 66–100 | 15–20 | |
| Liberal expansion | Denmark | 40 | 56 | 67 | 80 | 30 |
| Sweden | 47 | 58 | 56 | 85–95 | 30–45 | |
| Netherlands | 30 | 42 | 67 | 95–100b | 30 | |
| Family ownership | Italy | 46 | 59 | 72 | 55–80b | 5–20 |
| Portugal | 45 | 52 | 75 | 80–90 | 30–40 | |
| Privatised ownership | Slovenia | x | 69 | 78 | 50a | 10 |
| Hungary | x | 71 | 90 | 70 | 5–35 | |
| Liberal ownership | Spain | 53 | 73 | 83 | 80–100b | 15–20 |
a Bausparen important element of finance
bRMBS important element of housing finance
Fig. 1a Homeownership rates, b housing wealth holdings, c residential debts of occupational classes in the 1930–1949 birth cohort, in different housing wealth accumulation regimes.
Source: Share wave 2,3,4 (own computation)
Homeownership rates, housing wealth holdings and residential debts of occupational classes in two cohorts, in different housing wealth accumulation regimes.
Source: Share wave 2,3,4 (own computation)
| Housing wealth accumulation regime | Occupational class | Homeownership rate (1931–1949) with 10% confidence interval (%) | Homeownership rate (1950–1962) with 10% confidence interval (%) | Housing wealth (1931–1949) with 10% confidence interval (%) | Housing wealth (1950–1962) with 10% confidence interval (%) | Residential debt (1931–1949) with 10% confidence interval (%) | Residential debt (1950–1962) with 10% confidence interval (%) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regulated rental | Low | 28 | 32 | 36 | 27 | 32 | 37 | 60 | 67 | 75 | 48 | 57 | 65 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 20 | 25 | 29 |
| Middle | 56 | 58 | 60 | 61 | 63 | 65 | 95 | 99 | 102 | 66 | 69 | 72 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 15 | 16 | |
| High | 69 | 71 | 74 | 77 | 80 | 82 | 104 | 108 | 113 | 108 | 114 | 120 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
| Self-employed | 61 | 65 | 69 | 63 | 66 | 70 | 137 | 145 | 153 | 130 | 137 | 144 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 7 | |
| Privatised rental | Low | 68 | 70 | 73 | 68 | 71 | 74 | 68 | 72 | 75 | 65 | 69 | 73 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Middle | 74 | 76 | 78 | 80 | 81 | 83 | 83 | 86 | 88 | 105 | 109 | 113 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| High | 82 | 84 | 86 | 87 | 89 | 90 | 104 | 108 | 111 | 125 | 129 | 134 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Self-employed | 60 | 65 | 69 | 87 | 90 | 92 | 85 | 95 | 106 | 105 | 112 | 119 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Regulated expansion | Low | 64 | 67 | 70 | 62 | 66 | 70 | 67 | 70 | 74 | 61 | 65 | 69 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Middle | 77 | 79 | 82 | 72 | 75 | 77 | 87 | 90 | 93 | 76 | 79 | 82 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| High | 86 | 88 | 90 | 83 | 85 | 87 | 127 | 132 | 137 | 100 | 104 | 107 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 6 | |
| Self-employed | 82 | 86 | 89 | 86 | 89 | 91 | 114 | 122 | 130 | 114 | 120 | 127 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| Liberal expansion | Low | 39 | 45 | 50 | 50 | 57 | 64 | 72 | 83 | 93 | 40 | 52 | 64 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 35 | 43 | 50 |
| Middle | 61 | 64 | 67 | 72 | 75 | 77 | 81 | 85 | 90 | 79 | 84 | 88 | 19 | 22 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | |
| High | 77 | 79 | 81 | 84 | 86 | 88 | 101 | 106 | 111 | 94 | 99 | 104 | 20 | 21 | 23 | 32 | 34 | 36 | |
| Self-employed | 80 | 84 | 87 | 86 | 89 | 93 | 123 | 132 | 142 | 130 | 140 | 151 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 25 | 28 | 31 | |
| Family ownership | Low | 78 | 80 | 83 | 68 | 72 | 77 | 68 | 72 | 77 | 75 | 82 | 89 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Middle | 79 | 82 | 85 | 78 | 81 | 84 | 97 | 104 | 110 | 81 | 87 | 93 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| High | 89 | 92 | 94 | 85 | 88 | 91 | 104 | 113 | 121 | 120 | 127 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| Self-employed | 74 | 77 | 81 | 80 | 83 | 87 | 120 | 131 | 141 | 107 | 116 | 125 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Privatised ownership | Low | 85 | 88 | 90 | 79 | 82 | 85 | 72 | 77 | 83 | 62 | 67 | 72 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| Middle | 87 | 89 | 91 | 88 | 90 | 92 | 87 | 92 | 97 | 92 | 97 | 101 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | |
| High | 87 | 90 | 92 | 90 | 92 | 94 | 119 | 125 | 132 | 116 | 123 | 129 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | |
| Self-employed | 100 | 100 | 100 | 91 | 94 | 97 | 125 | 154 | 182 | 130 | 144 | 158 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 9 | |
| Liberal ownership | Low | 90 | 92 | 94 | 79 | 83 | 88 | 60 | 65 | 69 | 84 | 94 | 105 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Middle | 90 | 93 | 95 | 85 | 89 | 92 | 90 | 97 | 105 | 96 | 105 | 115 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | |
| High | 98 | 99 | 101 | 90 | 94 | 97 | 140 | 159 | 178 | 126 | 140 | 155 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 10 | |
| Self-employed | 96 | 98 | 100 | 86 | 90 | 94 | 96 | 108 | 119 | 81 | 92 | 102 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 15 | |
Overview of housing wealth inequalities between occupational classes and cohorts in different housing wealth accumulation regimes, and mechanisms explaining them
| Housing policy | Class comparison (low vs. high) | Cohort comparison (1930–1949 vs. 1950–1962) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1945–1980 | 1980–2010 | Level of housing wealth inequality | Mechanism | Development of housing wealth inequality | Mechanism | |
| Regulated rental | Rental | Continued regulation | Small | Selectivity of homeownership | Decline in the middle class | Increasing debts |
| Privatised rental | Rental | Privatisation | Small | Legacy of state redistribution | Increase in the higher class | Stronger link between labour market income and housing consumption |
| Regulated expansion | Expansionist | Continued regulation | Large | Reinforcement of labour market inequality | Decline in the middle and higher class | Increasing age of entry into homeownership |
| Liberal expansion | Expansionist | Liberalisation | Very small | Selectivity of homeownership/legacy of state redistribution | Decline in the lower class | Increasing debts/decreasing selectivity of homeownership |
| Family ownership | Home-ownership | Continued role of the family | Small | Family pooling | Decline in the middle class | Decline of self-construction/weakened stability of employment |
| Privatised ownership | Home-ownership | Privatisation | Medium | Legacy of state redistribution/family pooling | Non-significant decline in the lower class | Stronger link between labour market income and housing consumption |
| Liberal ownership | Home-ownership | Liberalisation | Very large | Selectivity of homeownership | Increase in the lower class | Housing boom/increasing selectivity of housing |
Fig. 2a Homeownership rates, b housing wealth holdings, c residential debts of occupational classes in two cohorts, in different housing wealth accumulation regimes.
Source: Share wave 2,3,4 (own computation)