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Staying together for the sake of the home? House price shocks and partnership dissolution in the UK

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  • Rainer, Helmut
  • Smith, Ian

Abstract

This paper explores the importance of unanticipated house price shocks for marital dissolution in the UK using individual household data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and county-level house price data from the Halifax House Price Index (HHPI). Results suggest that positive and negative house price shocks have asymmetric effects on the probability of partnership dissolution. Negative house price shocks significantly increase the risk of partnership dissolution, while positive house price shocks do not have a significant effect in general. The destabilizing effect of negative house price shocks is particularly pronounced for couples with dependent children, low family income, and high mortgage debt. Results are robust to a wide variety of specifications.

Suggested Citation

  • Rainer, Helmut & Smith, Ian, 2008. "Staying together for the sake of the home? House price shocks and partnership dissolution in the UK," ISER Working Paper Series 2008-31, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:ese:iserwp:2008-31
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    Cited by:

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    2. Andrew Grant & Steve Satchell, 2019. "Endogenous divorce risk and investment," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 845-876, July.
    3. Kim, Yeorim & Mastrogiacomo, Mauro & Hochguertel, Stefan & Bloemen, Hans, 2022. "Till Debt Do Us Part: Strategic Divorces and a Test of Moral Hazard," IZA Discussion Papers 15446, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Riku Laine & Mikko Aaltonen & Mikko Myrskylä & Pekka Martikainen, 2023. "Sociohistorical context and post-prison life course," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2023-037, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    5. Rory Coulter & Michael Thomas, 2019. "A new look at the housing antecedents of separation," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(26), pages 725-760.
    6. Jiaping Zhang & Mingwang Cheng & Xinyu Wei & Xiaomei Gong, 2018. "Does Mobile Phone Penetration Affect Divorce Rate? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Atalay, Kadir & Edwards, Rebecca, 2022. "House prices, housing wealth and financial well-being," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    8. Jennifer Klein, 2017. "House Price Shocks and Individual Divorce Risk in the United States," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 628-649, December.
    9. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan & Hassan Fereidouni Gholipour, 2016. "Divorce and the cost of housing: evidence from Iran," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 1029-1054, December.
    10. Begley, Jaclene, 2017. "Legacies of homeownership: Housing wealth and bequests," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 37-50.
    11. Clara H. Mulder, 2013. "Family dynamics and housing," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(14), pages 355-378.
    12. James Alm & Weizheng Lai & Xun Li, 2022. "Housing market regulations and strategic divorce propensity in China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 1103-1131, July.
    13. Pierre–André Chiappori & Natalia Radchenko & Bernard Salanié, 2018. "Divorce and the duality of marital payoff," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 833-858, September.
    14. Harminder Battu & Heather Brown & Miguel Costa-Gomes, 2013. "Not always for richer or poorer: The effects of income shocks and house price changes on marital dissolution," ERSA conference papers ersa13p250, European Regional Science Association.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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