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The Housing Wealth of the Aged

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Author Info
Louise Sheiner
David N. Weil

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Abstract

This paper examines the degree to which the elderly reduce homeownership as they age, and the factors which influence this process. We find that average levels of homeownership decline significantly with age, even when cohort effects are taken into consideration, and that the amount of housing held by people near death is quite low compared to what is seen in cross sections. We estimate that 42% of households will leave behind a house when the last member dies. We also find that the degree to which households reduce homeownership between age 65 and death does not differ greatly between the upper and lower income halves of our sample; that people who do not have children reduce their homeownership more slowly than those who do; that increases in house prices in a state make it more likely that the elderly in that state reduce their home equity; and that the value of houses sold by elderly people tends not remain in their portfolios after the house is sold.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 4115.

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Date of creation: Jul 1992
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:4115

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Lawrence H. Summers, 1981. "The Role of Intergenerational Transfers in Aggregate Capital Accumulation," NBER Working Papers 0445, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1989. "Aging, Moving, and Housing Wealth," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Aging, pages 9-54 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Axel Borsch-Supan, 1989. "A Dynamic Analysis of Household Dissolution and Living Arrangement Transitions by Elderly Americans," NBER Working Papers 2808, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Hurd, Michael D, 1987. "Savings of the Elderly and Desired Bequests," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 298-312, June.
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. James Banks & Richard Blundell & Zoë Oldfield & James P. Smith, 2007. "Housing Price Volatility and Downsizing in Later Life," NBER Working Papers 13496, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Annamaria Lusardi, 2000. "Explaining Why So Many Households Do Not Save," Working Papers 0001, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
  3. Lina Walker, 2004. "Elderly Households and Housing Wealth: Do They Use It or Lose It?," Working Papers wp070, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center. [Downloadable!]
  4. Michael Hurd, 2003. "Are Bequests Accidental or Desired?," Working Papers 03-13, RAND Corporation Publications Department. [Downloadable!]
  5. Flood, Lennart & Klevmarken, Anders & Mitrut, Andreea, 2006. "The income of the Swedish baby boomers," Working Papers in Economics 209, Göteborg University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Annamaria Lusardi, 2003. "The Impact of Financial Education on Savings and Asset," Working Papers wp061, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center. [Downloadable!]
  7. Francois Ortalo-Magne & Sven Rady, 2001. "Housing Market Dynamics: On the Contribution of Income Shocks and Credit Constraints," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Siu Fai Leung, 2000. "Why Do Some Households Save So Little? A Rational Explanation," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(4), pages 771-800, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Joseph Nichols, 2004. "A Life-cycle Model with Housing, Portfolio Allocation, and Mortgage Financing," Econometric Society 2004 North American Winter Meetings 205, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
  10. Jonathan Skinner, 1993. "Is Housing Wealth a Sideshow?," NBER Working Papers 4552, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Alan J. Auerbach & Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff & John Sabelhaus & David N. Weil, 1994. "The annuitization of Americans' resources: a cohort analysis," Working Paper 9413, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1996. "The Wealth of Cohorts: Retirement Saving and the Changing Assets of Older Americans," NBER Working Papers 5609, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 2001. "Aging and Housing Equity: Another Look," NBER Working Papers 8608, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Joseph B. Nichols, 2007. "Nominal mortgage contracts and the effects of inflation on portfolio allocation," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2007-67, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  15. Jonathan S. Feinstein, 1993. "Elderly Health, Housing, and Mobility," NBER Working Papers 4572, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Raffaele Miniaci & Chiara Monfardini & Guglielmo Weber, 2003. "Is there a retirement consumption puzzle in Italy?," IFS Working Papers W03/14, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
  17. Annamaria Lusardi, 2002. "Explaining Why So Many People Do Not Save," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College 2001-05, Center for Retirement Research. [Downloadable!]
  18. Ngee-Choon Chia & Albert K C Tsui, 2005. "Reverse Mortgages as Retirement Financing Instrument: An Option for “Asset-rich and Cash-poor” Singaporeans," SCAPE Policy Research Working Paper Series 0503, National University of Singapore, Department of Economics, SCAPE. [Downloadable!]
  19. Alicia H. Munnell & Mauricio Soto & Jean-Pierre Aubry, 2007. "Do People Plan to Tap Their Home Equity in Retirement?," Issues in Brief ib2007-7-7, Center for Retirement Research, revised May 2007. [Downloadable!]
  20. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 2000. "Aging and Housing Equity," NBER Working Papers 7882, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Andreas Lehnert, 2004. "Housing, consumption, and credit constraints," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2004-63, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  22. Antonia Díaz & Maria J. Luengo-Prado, 2006. "On The User Cost and Homeownership," Working Papers 2006-14, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  23. Annamaria Lusardi, 2000. "Explaining Why So Many Households Do Not Save," JCPR Working Papers 203, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
  24. Hochguertel, S. & Soest, A. van, 1996. "The relation between financial and housing wealth of Dutch households," Discussion Paper 82, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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