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Does Homeownership Lead to Longer Unemployment Spells? The Role of Mortgage Payments

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  • Baert, Stijn

    (Ghent University)

  • Heylen, Freddy

    (Ghent University)

  • Isebaert, Daan

    (Ghent University)

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of housing tenure choice on unemployment duration in Belgium using EU-SILC micro data. We contribute to the literature in distinguishing homeowners with mortgage payments and outright homeowners. We simultaneously estimate unemployment duration by a mixed proportional hazard model, and the probability of being an outright homeowner, a homeowner with mortgage payments or a tenant by a mixed multinomial logit model. To be able to correctly identify the causal influence of different types of housing tenure on unemployment duration, we use instrumental variables. Our results show that homeowners with a mortgage exit unemployment first. Outright owners stay unemployed the longest. Tenants take an intermediate position. Moreover, our results reveal the different share of mortgage holders within the group of homeowners as a possible explanation for the discrepancy between former contributions to this literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Baert, Stijn & Heylen, Freddy & Isebaert, Daan, 2013. "Does Homeownership Lead to Longer Unemployment Spells? The Role of Mortgage Payments," IZA Discussion Papers 7774, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7774
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Did home ownership made things worse in the Great Recession?
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2014-01-14 22:38:00

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    Cited by:

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    2. Broulíková, Hana M. & Huber, Peter & Montag, Josef & Sunega, Petr, 2020. "Homeownership, mobility, and unemployment: Evidence from housing privatization," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    3. Julie Beugnot & Olivier Charlot & Guy Lacroix, 2019. "Does promoting homeownership always damage labour market performances?," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 161-183, July.
    4. Gaetano Lisi, 2016. "Mortgage Market, Housing Tenure Choice and Unemployment," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 472-493, November.
    5. William Cochrane & Jacques Poot, 2020. "Did the post-1986 decline in the homeownership rate benefit the New Zealand labour market? A spatial-econometric exploration," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 261-284, February.
    6. Caliendo, Marco & Gielen, Anne C. & Mahlstedt, Robert, 2015. "Home-ownership, unemployed’s job search behavior and post-unemployment outcomes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 218-221.
    7. Meekes, Jordy & Hassink, Wolter, 2017. "The Role of the Housing Market in Workers' Resilience to Job Displacement after Firm Bankruptcy," IZA Discussion Papers 10894, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Gaetano Lisi, 2019. "Homeownership and entrepreneurship: a search-and-matching model and a panel analysis in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(3), pages 673-694, October.
    9. Welters, Riccardo & Gerards, Ruud & Mellor, Kyran, 2024. "Homeownership, the unemployed and financial hardship," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    10. Gaetano Lisi, 2017. "Homeownership and entrepreneurship," Working Papers. Serie AD 2017-01, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    11. Stijn Baert & Herman Matthijs & Ilse Verdievel, 2019. "Voting with your wallet? Municipal budget policy and election results," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-11, August.
    12. Gaetano Lisi, 2018. "Unemployment, vacancies and housing tenure," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 333-341, October.
    13. Beugnot, Julie & Lacroix, Guy & Charlot, Olivier, 2014. "Homeownership and Labour Market Outcomes: Micro versus Macro Performances," IZA Discussion Papers 8599, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Meekes, Jordy & Hassink, Wolter H.J., 2019. "The role of the housing market in workers′ resilience to job displacement after firm bankruptcy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 41-65.
    15. J. Meekes & W.H.J. Hassink, 2016. "The role of the housing market in workers’ resilience to job displacement after firm bankruptcy," Working Papers 16-10, Utrecht School of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    housing tenure; duration analysis; unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis; Optimal Timing Strategies
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis

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