Working Paper
Why has home ownership fallen among the young?
Abstract: We document that home ownership of households with \"heads\" aged 25 - 44 years fell substantially between 1980 and 2000 and recovered only partially during the 2001-2005 housing boom. The 1980-2000 decline in young home ownership occurred as improvements in mortgage opportunities made it easier to purchase a home. This paper uses an equilibrium life-cycle model calibrated to micro and macro evidence to understand why young home ownership fell over a period when it became easier to own a home. Our findings indicate that a trend toward marrying later and the increase in household earnings risk that occurred after 1980 account for 3/5 to 4/5 of the decline in young home ownership.
Keywords: Home ownership; Marriage;
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File(s): File format is application/pdf http://www.chicagofed.org/digital_assets/publications/working_papers/2009/wp2009_01.pdf
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Bibliographic Information
Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Part of Series: Working Paper Series
Publication Date: 2009
Number: WP-09-01