Elderly Households and Housing Wealth in Japan

Households, during their lifecycle, make important decisions regarding their housing consumption. Lifecycle consumption theory suggests that these choices in relation to tenure, size and location of the dwelling unit are made in response to the lifetime wealth maximization by households suggesting a dynamic process whereby householdsí would continually evaluate their housing consumption and investment. More than 85% households over 65 years of age in Japan are homeowners. How elderly households treat housing equity and what they intend to do with this wealth, is an important policy and welfare question. The literature on the extent of adjustment in housing wealth of elderly homeowners in Japan is limited. Most of the research to date finds that elderly homeowners do not appear to be tapping into their housing equity to support non-housing consumption in retirement probably because elderly households have objectives other than non-housing consumption while investing in housing. Research from other countries (like UK) indicates that most elderly households are rationally willing to use some of their lifetime assets to meet needs in later life. There is, however, only limited evidence of systematic withdrawal of housing equity to supplement non-housing consumption. This raises an important policy question: If households do not tap into their housing equity to support their non-housing consumption post retirement, are policies aimed at facilitating homeownership achieving desired welfare outcomes? It is crucial, therefore, to understand the housing investment objectives and housing consumption behaviour of elderly households in Japan.