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

Author

Listed:
  • Rainer, Helmut
  • Smith, Ian

Abstract

The paper explores the importance of unanticipated house price shocksfor marital dissolution in the UK by using individual household datafrom the British Household Panel Survey and county level house pricedata from the Halifax house price index. Results suggest that positiveand negative house price shocks have asymmetric effects on theprobability of partnership dissolution. Negative house price shockssignificantly increase the risk of partnership dissolution, whereaspositive house price shocks do not have a significant effect in general.The destabilizing effect of negative house price shocks is particularlypronounced for couples with dependent children, low family income andhigh mortgage debt. Results are robust to a wide variety ofspecifications.

Suggested Citation

  • Rainer, Helmut & Smith, Ian, 2010. "Staying together for the sake of the home?: house price shocks and partnership dissolution in the UK," Munich Reprints in Economics 19755, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:lmu:muenar:19755
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Bram De Rock & Tom Potoms & Mariia Kovaleva, 2025. "Housing wealth, marital stability and labor supply: an intertemporal analysis," IFS Working Papers W25/13, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    3. 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.
    4. Brooks, Matthew M, 2019. "Differential Attainment of Affordable Housing among America’s Ethnoracial Groups; 2005-2017," SocArXiv qnvjr, Center for Open Science.
    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. Elizabeth Brainerd & Olga Malkova, 2023. "Maternity benefits and marital stability after birth: evidence from the Soviet Baltic republics," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 2309-2345, October.
    7. Zheng Chang & Weifeng Li & Mi Diao & Xin Li, 2024. "Marriage entry, divorce and reconciliation: The unintended consequence of the home purchase restriction policy in China," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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).
    11. Atalay, Kadir & Edwards, Rebecca, 2022. "House prices, housing wealth and financial well-being," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Begley, Jaclene, 2017. "Legacies of homeownership: Housing wealth and bequests," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 37-50.
    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.
    15. Clara Mulder, 2013. "Family dynamics and housing," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(14), pages 355-378.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. Mingbo Zheng & Yin E Chen & Gen-Fu Feng & Jun Wen & Chun-Ping Chang, 2018. "Divorce And Housing Price In 31 Provinces Of China," Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking, Bank Indonesia, vol. 21(2), pages 161-176, October.
    19. Rafael González-Val & Miriam Marcén, 2024. "Divorce law reforms and house prices in Europe," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 517-549, December.
    20. repec:osf:socarx:qnvjr_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Kureishi, Wataru & Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hannah & Tsujiyama, Hitoshi & Wakabayashi, Midori, 2025. "Stuck in a marriage: Labor market shocks, divorce and intra-household reallocation," Discussion Papers 01/2025, Deutsche Bundesbank.

    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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