Determinants of homeownership in Europe – an empirical analysis based on SHARE
International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis
ISSN: 1753-8270
Article publication date: 16 March 2020
Issue publication date: 9 February 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of homeownership in Europe.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, a logit model that predicts whether an individual is a homeowner or not was estimated. Wave 6 (2015) from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe was used, through a sample of 46,003 respondents across all Europe and through four subsamples (Eastern, Southern, Northern and Western Europe).
Findings
The findings reveal that several factors influence homeownership, namely, geographic location, age, gender, number of children, marital status, job situation, household income, high education, years of education, political orientation and holding bonds, stocks, mutual funds, bank accounts, saving accounts, individual retirement account or life insurance. Different results were obtained when the four subsamples were considered.
Research limitations/implications
The research findings provide an attempt to disentangle the main factors influencing homeownership. However, only individuals above 50 years of age were considered because of the database characteristics.
Practical implications
This paper provided insights to consider public policies that try to increase homeownership rates.
Social implications
The results put in evidence the likelihood characteristics of a homeowner. Therefore, public policies should address those who do not fulfill those when promoting higher homeownership rates. For example, attention should be given to low and middle-income individuals.
Originality/value
The paper emphasised the characteristics of a homeowner in Europe, contributing to the discussion on this topic among policymakers, practitioners and researchers in Europe.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper uses data from SHARE Wave 6 (DOI: 10.6103/SHARE.w6.611), Börsch-Supan et al. (2013) for methodological details. The SHARE data collection has been primarily funded by the European Commission through FP5 (QLK6-CT-2001-00360), FP6 (SHARE-I3: RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE: CIT5-CT-2005-028857, SHARELIFE: CIT4-CT-2006-028812) and FP7 (SHARE-PREP: N°211909, SHARE-LEAP: N°227822 and SHARE M4: N°261982). Additional funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research, the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, the US National Institute on Aging (U01_AG09740-13S2, P01_AG005842, P01_AG08291, P30_AG12815, R21_AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG_BSR06-11, OGHA_04-064 and HHSN271201300071C) and from various national funding sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org).
The authors acknowledge financial support from FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal), national funding through research grant UIDB/05069/2020.
Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Citation
Garcia, M.T.M. and Figueira, R. (2021), "Determinants of homeownership in Europe – an empirical analysis based on SHARE", International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 14-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHMA-12-2019-0120
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited