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Housing wealth across countries: the role of expectations, institutions and preferences

Author

Listed:
  • Le Blanc, Julia
  • Slacalek, Jiri
  • White, Matthew N.

Abstract

Homeownership rates and holdings of housing wealth differ immensely across countries. Using micro data from five economies, we estimate a life-cycle model with illiquid housing in which households face a discrete–continuous choice between renting and owning a house. We use the model to decompose the cross-country differences in the homeownership rate and the value of housing wealth into three groups of explanatory factors: house price expectations, the institutional set-up of the housing market and preferences. We find that all three groups of factors matter, although preferences less so. Differences in homeownership rates are strongly affected by (i) house price beliefs and (ii) the rental wedge, the difference between rents and housing maintenance costs, which reflects the quality of the rental market. Differences in the value of housing wealth are substantially driven by maintenance costs. JEL Classification: D15, D31, D84, E21, G11, G51

Suggested Citation

  • Le Blanc, Julia & Slacalek, Jiri & White, Matthew N., 2025. "Housing wealth across countries: the role of expectations, institutions and preferences," Working Paper Series 3021, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20253021
    Note: 1111765
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    File URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu//pub/pdf/scpwps/ecb.wp3021~d5e846a54c.en.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    cross-country comparisons; homeownership; house price expectations; housing; housing market institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D15 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth

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