Owning,renting, or living with parents? Changing housing situations among Canadian young adults, 2001 to 2011

Abstract

Homeownership is a central component of wealth, but many young adults today struggle to enter the housing market, opting to rent or live at home with their parents instead. Despite these trends, few recent Canadian studies have addressed the housing arrangements of young adults. We use pooled cross-sectional General Social Survey data from 2001 to 2011 to analyze three types of housing arrangements among 18- to 35-year-olds. Findings show that although the proportion of young adults living at home increased dramatically since 2001 and the proportion renting declined, rates of homeownership among young adults remained fairly constant over the three waves. Changes over time were most dramatic among the youngest age group of 18- to 24-year-olds, first-generation immigrants, and young adults with higher levels of education. Findings further demonstrate persistent socioeconomic and demographic disparities between young adults who can move out of their parents’ homes and into homeownership and those who either remain at home or become renters, with important repercussions on lifetime wealth inequality.     

Siblings,fairness and parental support for housing in the UK

Abstract

Financial support from parents has become critical to the capacity of many single young adults to attain and sustain independent housing in the United Kingdom. Utilising data from a qualitative study of early housing pathways, this paper applies Lüscher’s theory of ambivalence in a context previously unexplored via this framework, analysing how participants talked about competing claims between siblings for finite parental resources in support of independent living. Most expressed faith in the assumed fairness of parental behaviours in providing support whilst often constructing themselves as ‘more responsible’ or ‘more deserving’ than their siblings. Whilst parental support was routinely made available regardless of recipients’ current housing tenure, there was nonetheless a sense that support for owner occupation fell into a distinct category of assistance, reinforcing notions of tenure prejudice. Given ongoing dependency on family support, participants were largely resigned to these disparities, regarding them as integral to the ambivalent nature of inter- and intragenerational family relationships.     

Housing Tenure: Pacific Families in New Zealand

Home ownership has been associated with health, social and economic benefits. However, a decline in ownership has been observed over the past decade in New Zealand. Minority groups, including Pacific people, have been disadvantaged in the housing sector. This study investigated housing tenure and the relationship between tenure and health among mothers of a birth cohort of Pacific children in New Zealand. Findings showed that most families lived in state or private rental accommodation with few (15.4 per cent) owning their own homes. Homeowners were more likely to be older, partnered and have higher incomes. Better mental health was observed for homeowners compared to renters. Findings can inform housing and public health policy for Pacific families.     

Housing tenure and the health of older Australians dependent on the age pension for their income

The article examines how the housing tenure of older Australians, who are primarily or solely dependent on the government age pension for their income, impacts on their health. Drawing on 125 in-depth interviews with older private renters, social housing tenants and homeowners, it focuses mainly on interviewees’ narratives as to the impacts of their housing tenure on their mental health and outlook. It illustrates that security of tenure and cost of accommodation potentially has a profound impact on the psychological health of older Australians. Most of the older private renters told of being constantly stressed due to concerns about being given notice to vacate or an untenable rent increase. In contrast, the strong security of tenure and limited accommodation costs of older social housing tenants and homeowners created a foundation for a positive outlook and the capacity to lead a decent life.     

A relay race: intergenerational transmission of housing inequality in urban China

Abstract

Housing affordability has become a critical challenge worldwide, consequently constraining young generation from entering the housing market. Despite growing attention to housing inequality in China, little research has been undertaken to reveal the extent to which a family of origin contributes to housing inequality among young adults. Family resources could support the young generation to achieve homeownership not only directly through intergenerational transfers of wealth, but also indirectly through intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic characteristics. Using the 2013 Fudan Yangtze River Delta Social Transformation Survey, this study constructs a structural equation model to examine the direct and indirect influence of parents’ resources on the young generation’s housing outcomes. The results show that the direct influence of parents’ homeownership is prominent, whereas the impact of transmitted socioeconomic status is limited. Housing advantages of parents, derived from their superior institutional status during China’s housing reforms, are being transmitted to their offspring, particularly to sons.     

Inequalities in the transition to homeownership among young people in Scotland

Abstract

Homeownership levels among young adults in the UK are declining. This paper compares youth transitions to homeownership in Scotland during the 1990s and 2000s by examining the roles of both personal and parental socio-economic characteristics and local house prices. It demonstrates demographic diversity among young people, with gender and partnership status interacting to shape their transitions to homeownership. The findings reveal that, although single women are less likely than single men to become homeowners, women are more likely to make the transition if they live with a partner. For all young adults, patterns of advantage and disadvantage are defined by personal resources and parental background. While many of these inequalities have persisted over time, the distance between the most and least advantaged has widened, new inequalities have emerged and local housing markets have come to play a greater role for some.     

Changing Inequalities in Housing Outcomes across Western Europe

We evaluate to what extent the financialization of housing is associated with changing inequalities in housing outcomes for low-income owners and private renters, using data for two time points (1995 and 2012) for 11–13 western European countries. We find that in countries with a more commodified housing regime, low-income respondents experience more affordability problems (resulting in a wider gap with middle-income respondents), but better housing conditions. Concerning trends over time, we find that with regard to housing affordability, in most countries the position of low-income owners and private renters has deteriorated over time compared to their middle-income counterparts. This trend can be explained by increases in the level of financialization of housing, and decreases in the supply of private rental housing – controlling for trends in absolute incomes and income inequality. Declining affordability for low-income owners and private renters in more financialized housing regimes has furthermore not been compensated by improved housing conditions. Although it may have intensified since 2008, the observed trend does not originate from declining household incomes following the Great Financial Crisis (2008–2009), as the affordability gap between low- and middle-income private renters already grew significantly larger with the increased financialization during the period 1995–2007.     

Ending Security of Tenure for Social Renters: Transitioning to ‘Ambulance Service’ Social Housing?

Drawing on international comparative research, this paper examines recent policy moves to withdraw security of tenure in social housing in England and Australia. We contend that there are theoretical and empirical grounds for believing that tenure security is crucial both to social housing tenants themselves and to conceptualisations of the sector. Starting from this premise we analyse the underlying rationale(s) for phasing out open-ended social tenancies. First, we consider the ‘welfare dependency’ argument and the claim that ‘conditionality’ mechanisms will incentivise social renters to (re)engage with the labour market. Second, we interrogate the, arguably more influential, rationale which stresses equity considerations in ensuring that scarce social housing resources are targeted to those in greatest need. We conclude by reflecting on the implementation prospects for this high-level policy reform, arguing that individual social landlords' motivations will be crucial in shaping the practical impacts of the new regime.     

The housing careers of younger adults and intergenerational support in Germany’s ‘society of renters’

Abstract

Through narrative interviews with younger adults and their parents, this paper explores how the housing transitions of younger adults, both within the rental sector and into homeownership, are shaped through intergenerational intra-family support in Germany’s society of renters. Our findings highlight the profound qualitative differences between regular transfers for establishing and retaining residential independence in the rental sector and inter vivos gifts for house purchase. Where the former support type is given and taken unconditionally, transfers for house purchase follow a different logic and carry different meanings. Being a necessary condition for property acquisition at young age, they have the power to completely rebalance family relations and undermine younger adults’ autonomy accordingly. In an aggregate perspective, our study further suggests increasing socio-spatial inequalities within the younger generation which run along both class and spatial origin, sharply dividing the housing market opportunities of ‘original Berliners’ and those who have moved to the city from more affluent regions in Germany.     

Right to buy … time to move? investigating the moving behaviour of right to buy owners in the UK

Part of the political argument in favour of the right to buy (RTB) was that it would stimulate the economy by encouraging the inter-regional mobility of those in public sector housing. This is the first study to examine whether RTB-owners are indeed more mobile than those in social housing. Using longitudinal data from the British household panel survey and panel regression models we show that the probability of a RTB-owner making a long distance move falls between that of social renters and owner occupiers. However, the difference between RTB-owners and homeowners or social renters is not significant. Social renters are significantly less likely to move over long distances than traditional owners. The results also suggest that RTB-owners are less likely than traditional owners to move for job related reasons, but more likely than social renters.     

Private Renter Households: Who Are The Long-Term Renters?

Despite the perception that Australia's private rental market serves principally as a short-term transitional housing tenure, 40 per cent of households in this sector have rented for longer than ten years. This paper enlarges the housing career concept by proposing two types of long-term private renters: continuals (always rented since leaving the parental home) and returners (rented, purchased home, rented again). By using the multivariate statistical technique, CHAID, the analysis demonstrates that continuals and returners form ten distinct renter segments, defined largely by differences in age, marital status, source of income and household income. In the main, continual segments feature renters in the 30–44 year age group, not yet married or, if married (or formerly married), reliant on social security payments. In contrast, most returners earn private incomes, and tend to be older than the continuals (generally over 45 years). The segment most strongly associated with returning to rental housing exhibits the highest household income level, prompting speculation that some households may choose renting over ownership. The analysis further reveals that continual longterm renters encounter a disproportionate share of housing difficulties, including high rents, poor affordability and excessive residential upheaval.     

Intergenerational support for autonomous living in a post-socialist housing market: homes,meanings and practices

Abstract

This paper explores housing trajectories of young adults and practices of intergenerational support in Romania drawing on narratives of a group of people aged 25–39 living (quasi-) autonomously in Bucharest, and those of kin that support them. It describes three housing arrangements in which family (parental) resources and property play an important role, and argues that in this context of high interdependence, unequal relationships develop between parents and adult children marked by professed entitlement on the part of children and controlling generosity on the part of parents. It shows how interdependent practices of homemaking and material support combine to shape housing trajectories and define the boundaries of ownership over homes that are shared, gifted or given in use within kin networks, sheltering young adults from the vagaries of the market.     

Socio-demographic Variations of Homeowners and Differential Effects of Parental Homeownership on Offspring's Housing Tenure

Previous research indicates a positive effect of parental homeownership on offspring's homeownership, but rarely tests whether the effect is due to self-selectivity. In the context of socio-demographic variations of American homeowners, this study extends previous research by examining the differential effects of parental ownership of a single-family home. The current study employs the Panel Studies of Income Dynamics data, using propensity score matching to address self-selection problems. The results suggest that the intergenerational effect of parental housing tenure has been differentiated by race, income and the housing tenure history of parents while reinforcing inequality. Even within the same housing tenure, offspring of socio-economically disadvantaged groups are less likely to take advantage of parental homeownership in attaining a single-family owner-occupied home.     

Deconcentrating Poverty With Housing Programs

Problem: Housing programs of the past have exacerbated the problems of concentrated poverty. Current housing programs serving very low-income households, including homebuyers as well as renters, should be examined to determine the extent to which they help households make entry into neighborhoods with low concentrations of poverty.

Purpose: This research is designed to assist planners in understanding how well various approaches to resolving housing affordability problems can facilitate the poverty deconcentration process.

Methods: Administrative data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development are used to assess the degree to which federal housing programs help lowincome homebuyers and renters locate in neighborhoods where less than 10% of the population is below poverty.

Results and conclusions: Subsidizing households ought to be more effective than subsidizing housing units at helping lowincome households locate in low-poverty areas, and whether a household rents or buys should not matter to whether a program succeeds at deconcentration of the poor. Yet, analysis of national datasets across several housing programs finds neither of the previous propositions to be true. Housing vouchers suppliedto households are not helping renters locate in low-poverty areas any more effectively than are current project-based subsidies. It also turns out that tenure matters; a disproportionately higher share of low-income homebuyers are locating in low-poverty neighborhoods than are lowincome renters.

Takeaway for practice: I recommend that housing planners seeking to make poverty deconcentration more effective use housing placement counselors, administer programs at the metropolitan scale, lease and broker market-rate housing directly, promote mixed-income LIHTC developments, practice inclusionary zoning, and monitor the impacts of these efforts.

Research support: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.     

Long-term Renters in the Australian Housing Market

The paper provides the first examination into the characteristics and housing circumstances of long-term private renters in Australia. It utilises a national sample of 4677 private renter households drawn from the 1994 ABS Survey of Rental Tenants. In Australia 40 per cent of private renters are identified as 'long-term renters', defined as having rented for more than 10 years. Two main types of long-term renters are examined: 'continuals' who have rented continuously since leaving the parental home, and 'returners' who have resumed renting after a period as a home purchaser, but cumulatively have rented for more than 10 years. Continuals, in contrast to returners, are characterised mainly by lower household incomes and higher unemployment. Returners, on the other hand, are more diverse socio-economically, older than other private renters, and more likely to have experienced marital breakdown. Long-term renters (both continuals and returners) change residence less frequently (although still at a rate double the national average). Rental conditions also vary between long and shorter-term groups. Long-term renters appear to be in a less form alised sector of the market. They are less likely than shorter-term renters to rent from estate agents, pay a bond, hold a lease, or pay rent in advance. The findings in this paper challenge the traditional view of private rental as predom inantly a short-term, transitional tenure.     

From Tenants to Homeowners: Housing Renters After Disaster in Bhuj,India

While renters comprise one-third of urban housing markets, the barriers to long-term housing needs of renters following a disaster are significant. This paper examines post-disaster urban housing policy for renter households following the 2001 Gujarat earthquake in India and its implications for the housing recovery of renters in Bhuj city, an urban area close to the epicenter of the earthquake. Employing a qualitative case study method, the study finds that urban housing policy for renter households was defined by an ad hoc approach with multiple shifts over a period of 4 years. The improvised policy eventually lead to the creation of a publicly funded homeownership program that could rehouse less than one-third of impacted renters, whereas issues of equity, land tenure, lack of affordable units, and uncertainty of recovery for the poorest renters in the city remained.     

The impact of fuel poverty upon self-reported health status among the low-income population in Europe

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between fuel poverty and poor health among the population in the two lower income quintiles in Europe using the 2012 EU-SILC dataset. Results confirm that fuel poverty is a key determinant of health among the low-income population: the probability of being fuel poor is substantially higher among the low-income population; fuel poverty among the low-income population is a prevalent problem across European countries, particularly in southern and transition countries, and among renters; the low-income population in fuel poverty is more likely to report poor health than the whole low-income population; and the low-income population in severe fuel poverty has a higher likelihood of reporting poor health than the whole fuel poor low-income population. In addition, variations between countries in prevalence ratios of poor health by fuel poverty indicator and housing tenure suggest that there are different types of fuel poverty in terms of health-related outcomes.     

Family formation,parental background and young adults’ first entry into homeownership in Britain and Germany

Abstract

Although previous research shows that family dynamics and parental socioeconomic status influence the timing of young adults’ first entry into homeownership, much less is known about how the role of family factors may vary across countries with different housing systems. In this article, we use panel survey data from Britain and Germany to compare how family life course careers and parental socioeconomic background influence young adults’ initial entry into homeownership in these two divergent national contexts. The results show that in Britain, first-time homeownership transitions are tightly synchronized with partnership formation. By contrast, in Germany first moves into homeownership typically occur later around or after the arrival of children. Parental owner-occupation accelerates entry into homeownership in both contexts, while the effects of other parental characteristics are relatively muted. Furthermore, the results highlight how individual socioeconomic factors are critical determinants of entering owner-occupation. This is particularly true in Britain where there is a strong socioeconomic gradient in first-time homeownership transitions.     

Passing it on: inheritance,coresidence and the influence of parental support on homeownership and housing pathways

Abstract

The family home is often the single most valuable asset, when it is passed down generations. In recent years, this pathway towards homeownership has become more complex. Young people are increasingly depending on their parents, both financially (deposit) and in-kind (guarantor, living rent-free at parental home), to acquire their first home. This paper contributes to this debate by investigating the influence of bequests and in-kind generational transfers on housing wealth pathways. Based on the British Household Panel Study, this paper shows that receiving an inheritance seems less relevant than other socio-demographic control variables. Still life-time renters are significantly missing out on inheritances. However, young people who are living with their parents are benefiting from this in-kind support in the long term and are able to purchase their first home earlier than independent mortgagers who are saving up for a deposit while renting. These results are discussed in the wider context of housing policy, welfare and generational support.     

Exploring Dual Housing Tenure Status as a Household Response to Demographic,Social and Economic Change

This article proposes that single housing tenure categories do not enable an understanding of the ways in which households use, occupy and own residential properties in the context of broad demographic, economic and social changes. Adapting work on sub-tenure housing choice, housing tenure is overlaid with ownership of residential property to develop four tenure types: Owner, Owner-Owner, Renter and Renter-Owner. Applying this typology in the Australian case provides valuable new insights, with 1.5 million households having dual housing tenure status, including almost one in eight private renters. More broadly, reconceptualising housing tenure to include ownership of other residential property can contribute to theoretical debates about household income and wealth; social status and identity; and social practices and life planning, potentially generating new research questions such as the extent to which Renter-Owners reflect new patterns of living or a response to affordability constraints, and the social identity and political affiliations of those with a dual tenure status.