The intergenerational transmission of homeownership across Europe

Clara H. Mulder, University of Groningen
Caroline Dewilde, Tilburg University
Annika Smits, University of Amsterdam

We investigate the extent to which the intergenerational transmission of homeownership differs across countries. Our main hypothesis is that the impact of parental home-ownership on the likelihood of an adult child’s entry into homeownership is stronger in countries where mortgages are less widespread, and where the family plays a bigger role in the provision of welfare. We perform discrete-time event history analyses of the transition to first-time homeownership using the retrospective SHARELIFE data for 10 European countries (Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Greece), collected in 2008/2009. We find that in most countries the likelihood of an adult child’s entry into homeownership is 20-40% greater if the parents were owner-occupiers than if they were not. The few countries where the impact is smaller (Sweden, France and Spain) are not especially those where mortgage markets are restrictive or where the family is less important in welfare provision.