First-time home-ownership of couples - The effect of inter-generational transmission

This paper reports the effects of inter-generational transmission of resources and of the pooling of resources within families on the transition into first-time home-ownership of couples, using detailed life-course data from the 1992/3 Netherlands Family Survey. Strong relationships are found between the socioeconomic characteristics and wealth - particularly self-employment and home-ownership - of the parents of both members of the couple and home-ownership of the couple. Parents who are self-employed or own a home have more opportunities than parents who rent their home to help their children financially and they do, in fact, provide help substantially more often. Socialization towards home-ownership arguably also plays a role. The results further show that the cumulation of home-ownership within families is increased by assortative mating. If the parents of one of the members of the couple own a house, or offer help, the probability that the other partner's parents also own a house or offer help increases. With regard to the partners' own characteristics, the current work status, self-employment, and education of the man are more important than those of the woman, but the socioeconomic status of the woman is found to be almost as important as that of the man.