Housing is an important component of consumption, but not simply because it absorbs a large fraction of the household budget—which it does. Where we live and how much we decide to spend on housing is basic to the amenities and life-style we have chosen for our families and ourselves. Housing, or more particularly housing wealth, can be even more critical as an investment as it is typically by far the biggest marketable asset in the household portfolio for most people. As a result, with increasing availability of appropriate panel data on wealth, there has been renewed interest in the study of housing and housing wealth dynamics and their implications for other economic factors.

Paper prepared for LWS Workshop on ”Construction and Usage of Comparable Microdata on Wealth”

EU legislation and/or funding

Housing, and housing wealth, form vital parts of household consumption and household wealth portfolios respectively and their importance varies across the income distribution and across countries. As such their measurement is essential for a study of wealth, particularly one in which such comparisons are some of the key objects of interest. In addition, however, a number of active research questions currently point to other dimensions of housing markets and housing choices decisions that are important for economists to understand. As more extensive panel data becomes available the opportunities for developing and extending research agendas in these areas is increasing.

Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London
James Banks

27/01/2005

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James Banks

research

Urban Policy > Housing > Housing policy

Social housing