Family Background, Individual Resources and the Homeownership of Couples and Singles

Homeownership is influenced by resources, household context and characteristics of the family of origin. Using the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, this paper investigates this influence and to what extent it differs between men and women in couples and between single men and women. The results for couples show that the earning potential of the male partner, indicated by the level of education, is much more important to housing tenure than the earning potential of the female partner, whereas the impact of the current income is similar for both sexes. Single women are less likely to be homeowners than single men. Moreover, the earning potential has a greater effect on homeownership for single men than for single women. Some evidence is also found for a greater effect of the father's socio-economic status on women's than on men's homeownership.