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The Intergenerational Transmission of Housing Wealth

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  • N. Meltem Daysal
  • Michael F. Lovenheim
  • David N. Wasser

Abstract

Rising wealth inequality has spurred an increased interest in understanding how and why wealth is correlated across generations. We exploit plausibly exogenous variation in housing wealth driven by home price changes in different areas to isolate the causal impact of parental housing wealth during different childhood periods on children’s long-run wealth accumulation. Using population-level Danish administrative data, we find that 27% and 25% of each Krone of parental housing wealth change during early-childhood is transmitted to children’s overall and housing wealth in adulthood, respectively. The corresponding transmission rates for parental housing wealth changes during middle-childhood are 25% and 15%, with a transmission to non-housing wealth of 10%. There is little evidence of transmission of parental housing wealth changes that occur during the teenage years. Examining mechanisms, we find that parental housing wealth changes in early and middle-childhood lead to modest increases in adult children’s home ownership, educational attainment, and earnings. However, earnings and education can explain only 20-30% of the intergenerational transmission of parental wealth gains during these periods. We argue that the transmission of parental housing wealth changes in childhood are driven in large part by changes to unobserved household environment and parental behaviors that are passed on to children and shape their savings behavior in adulthood.

Suggested Citation

  • N. Meltem Daysal & Michael F. Lovenheim & David N. Wasser, 2023. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Housing Wealth," NBER Working Papers 31669, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31669
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    Cited by:

    1. John Eric Humphries & CŽcile Macaire & AurŽlie Ouss & Megan T. Stevenson & Winnie van Dijk, 2025. "Revisiting the Lasting Impacts of Incarceration," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2441, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    2. Samuel Ligonnière & Salima Ouerk, 2024. "The unequal distribution of credit: Is there any role for monetary policy?," Working Papers of BETA 2024-19, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    3. Wold, Ella Getz & Aastveit, Knut Are & Brandsaas, Eirik & Juelsrud, Ragnar & Natvik, Gisle, 2024. "The housing channel of intergenerational wealth persistence," CEPR Discussion Papers 18888, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Michael Gilraine & James Graham & Angela Zheng, 2023. "Public Education and Intergenerational Housing Wealth Effects," NBER Working Papers 31345, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Greenhalgh-Stanley, Nadia & Reynolds, C․Lockwood, 2025. "Housing wealth, bequests, risk aversion, and the elderly," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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