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Financial literacy: A barrier to home ownership for the young?

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  • Gathergood, John
  • Weber, Jörg

Abstract

The decision to buy a home is one of the most important choices faced by a household. Most young households who purchase a home do so using a mortgage. But mortgages are complex financial instruments and this complexity may be a barrier to less sophisticated households becoming homeowners. Using survey data from a sample of English and Welsh households we measure household financial literacy related to mortgages, including concepts such as loan duration, interest compounding and amortization. We find that in the population mortgage financial literacy is generally low and among renters mortgage financial literacy is substantially worse than among homeowners. Econometric estimates show mortgage financial literacy predicts home ownership for younger, but not for older households. Financial literacy also affects the type of mortgage and leverage position of younger households. Young homeowners with poorer financial literacy take on larger mortgage debts and are more likely to use alternative mortgage products.

Suggested Citation

  • Gathergood, John & Weber, Jörg, 2017. "Financial literacy: A barrier to home ownership for the young?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 62-78.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:99:y:2017:i:c:p:62-78
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2017.02.001
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    4. James D. Shilling & Piyush Tiwari, 2021. "On Bank Pricing of Single-family Residential Home Loans: Are Australian Households Paying Too Much?​," GRU Working Paper Series GRU_2021_023, City University of Hong Kong, Department of Economics and Finance, Global Research Unit.
    5. Wouter Vangeel & Laurens Defau & Lieven De Moor, 2023. "Young Households’ Diminishing Access to Homeownership Attainment in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-28, April.
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    8. Francisco Gomes & Michael Haliassos & Tarun Ramadorai, 2021. "Household Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 919-1000, September.
    9. Steven Malliaris & Daniel A. Rettl & Ruchi Singh, 2022. "Is competition a cure for confusion? Evidence from the residential mortgage market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(1), pages 206-246, March.
    10. Antoine Genest-Grégoire & Luc Godbout & Jean-Herman Guay, 2017. "The Knowledge Deficit about Taxes: Who It Affects and What to Do About It," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 484, July.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Home ownership; Financial literacy; Mortgages; Household finance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

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