Abstract
To become a homeowner, it is necessary tohave sufficient resources and stability in thehousehold situation. In existing studies,household type is often used as a proxy forlevel of stability. Household types with a highlevel of commitment (married couples withoutand with children) are regarded as stablehouseholds, and singles and cohabitors as lessstable households. In this paper, it is arguedthat stability can be reached not only bymaking a commitment, but also by growing older.Increasing age brings stability into the livesof singles and cohabitors. Age also matters forthe structure of resources and costs ofdifferent household types. From a combinationof theory on age and theory on homeownership inthe life course, five hypotheses are derived.They are tested on retrospective data by usingdiscrete-time event-history analysis. From amodel with interaction effects, it can be seenwhether the probability of becoming a homeownerdiffers between household types in differentage groups. The results show that marriedcouples have the highest probability ofbecoming homeowners in age group 18–24, whereasthe probability is highest for cohabitors inage group 25–29, and in age group 30–34 forsingles. This supports the idea that peoplebecome homeowners either when they make acommitment, or when stability is createdthrough the passage of time in a lesscommitting household type.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allison, P.D. (1982) Discrete-Time Methods for the Analysis of Event Histories, Sociological Methodology, 13, 61–98.
Allison, P.D. (1984) Event History Analysis: Regression for Longitudinal Event Data, Sage, Newbury Park.
Auriat, N. (1991) Who Forgets? An Analysis of Memory Effects in a Retrospective Survey on Migration History, European Journal of Population, 7, 311–342.
Becker, H.S. (1960) Notes on the Concept of Commitment, American Journal of Sociology, 66, 32–40.
Becker, H.S. (1964) Personal Change in Adult Life, Sociometry, 27, 40–53.
Bonney, N., McCleery, A. and Forster, E. (1999) Migration, Marriage and the Life Course: Commitment and Residential Mobility, In: Migration and Gender in the Developed World (Eds, Boyle, P. and Halfacree, K.), Routledge, London, pp. 136–150.
CBS (1999) Vital Events: Past, Present and Future of the Dutch Population, CBS (Statistics Netherlands), Voorburg.
Clark, W.A.V., Deurloo, M.C. and Dieleman, F.M. (1994) Tenure Changes in the Context of Micro-Level Family and Macro-Level Economic Shifts, Urban Studies, 31, 137–154.
Clark, W.A.V. and Dieleman, F.M. (1996) Households and Housing, Center for Urban Policy Research, New Brunswick.
Clausen, J. (1972) The Life Course of Individuals, In: A Sociology of Age Stratification (Eds, Riley, M.W., Johnson, M. and Foner, A.), Russell Sage Foundation, New York, pp. 457–514.
Courgeau, D. and Lelièvre, E. (1988) Estimation of Transition Rates in Dynamic Household Models, In:Modelling Household Formation and Dissolution (Eds, Keilman, N., Kuijsten, A.C. and Vossen, A.), Clarendon, Oxford, pp. 160–176.
Davies Withers, S. (1998) Linking Household Transitions and Housing transitions: A Longitudinal Analysis of Renters, Environment and Planning A, 30, 615–630.
Deurloo, M.C., Dieleman, F.M. and Clark, W.A.V. (1987) Tenure Choice in the Dutch Housing Market, Environment and Planning A, 19, 763–781.
Doling, J. (1976) The Family Life Cycle and Housing Choice, Urban Studies, 13, 55–58.
Elder, G.H. (1985) Perspectives on the Life Course, In: Life Course Dynamics: Trajectories and Transitions, 1968–1980 (Ed, Elder, G.H.), Cornell University Press, Ithaca, pp. 23–49.
ESR/STP (1992) ESR/STP (formerly SSCW-Telepanel) data file. Owner: Stichting Economische, Sociaal-culturele en Ruimtelijke Wetenschappen (ESR) of the Netherlands Organisation for the Advancement of Scientific Research (NWO), The Hague. Data collection: Stichting Telepanel, Amsterdam. Data management: Steinmetz Archive, Amsterdam.
Feijten, P. and Mulder, C.H. (2002) The Timing of Household Events and Housing Events in the Netherlands: A Longitudinal Perspective, Housing Studies, 17, 773–792.
Ganzeboom, H.B.G., De Graaf, P.M. and Treiman, D.J. (1992) A Standard International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status, Social Science Research, 21, 1–56.
Graaf, N.D. de, de Graaf, P.M., Kraaykamp, G. and Ultee, W.C. (2000) Family Survey Dutch Population 2000 (dataset). Nijmegen University: Sociology.
Hayslip, B. and Panek, P.E. (1989) Adult Development and Aging, Harper and Row, New York.
Henretta, J.C. (1987) Family Transitions, Housing Market Context, and First Home Purchase by Young Married Households, Social Forces, 66, 520–536.
Manting, D., Kuijsten, A.C. and Helleman, J. (1992) From Youth to Adulthood: Transitions of Female Birth Cohorts in The Netherlands, Bevolking en Gezin, 1992, 55–76.
Michelson, W. (1977) Environmental Choice, Human Behavior, and Residential Satisfaction, Oxford University Press, New York.
Morrow-Jones, H.A. (1988) The Housing Life-Cycle and the Transition from Renting to Owning a Home in the United States: A Multistate Analysis, Environment and Planning A, 20, 1165–1184.
Mulder, C.H. and Manting, D. (1994) Strategies of Nest-Leavers: ‘settling Down’ versus Flexibility, European Sociological Review, 10, 155–172.
Mulder, C.H. and Hooimeijer, P. (1995) Moving into Owner-Occupation: Compositional and Contextual Effects on the Propensity to become a Homeowner, Netherlands Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 10, 5–25.
Mulder, C.H. and Wagner, M. (1998) First-Time Home-Ownership in the Family Life Course: a West German-Dutch Comparison, Urban Studies, 35, 687–713.
Riley, M. (1998) A Life Course Approach: Autobiographical Notes, In: Methods of Life Course Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (Eds, Giele, J.Z. and Elder, G.H.), Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp. 28–51.
Rindfuss, R.R. and Vandenheuvel, A. (1990) Cohabitation: A Precursor to Marriage or an Alternative to Being Single? Population and Development Review, 16, 703–726.
Rossi, P.H. (1955) Why Families Move: A Study in the Social Psychology of Urban Residential Mobility, Free Press, Glencoe, Illinois.
Scott, J. and Alwin, D. (1998) Retrospective versus Prospective Measurement of Life Histories in Longitudinal Research. In: Methods of Life Course Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (Eds, Giele, J.Z. and Elder, G.H.), Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp. 98–127.
Smeenk, W. (1998) Opportunity and Marriage. The Impact of Individual Resources and Marriage Market Structure on the When and Whom of First Marriage in the Netherlands, Thela Thesis, Amsterdam.
Thomson, E. and Colella, U. (1992) Cohabitation and Marital Stability: Quality or Commitment?, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 259–267.
Ultee, W.C. and Ganzeboom, H.B.G. (1993) Netherlands Family Survey 1992–1993 [machine readable data set]. Codebook Prepared by Harry B.G. Ganzeboom, Susanne Rijken, September 1993 edition. Changes and additions made by Harry B.G. Ganzeboom and Roland Weygold, January 1995 edition. Department of Sociology, Nijmegen University.
Van Leuvensteijn, M. and Koning, P. (2000) The Effects of Home-Ownership on Labour Mobility in The Netherlands: Oswald's Theses Revisited (Rep. no. 173), CPB Central Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, The Hague.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Feijten, P., Mulder, C.H. & Baizán, P. Age differentiation in the effect of household situation on first-time homeownership. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 18, 233–255 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025111119396
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025111119396