University of St Andrews, 18th May 2017 Family background and young adults’ housing trajectories: A cross-national analysis Sait Bayrakdar, University of Cambridge Philipp Lersch, University of Cologne Sergi Vidal, University of Queensland Rory Coulter, University of Cambridge University of St Andrews, 18th May 2017

Background Widespread belief that Britain’s housing system is ‘broken’ Restrictions and constraints particularly acute for young people Increased focus on intergenerationally ‘linked lives’ and vertical flows of support within families

Background “Without help from the “Bank of Mum and Dad”, many young people will struggle to get on the housing ladder. The average couple in the private rented sector now send roughly half their salary to their landlord each month, making it nigh on impossible to save for a deposit.” Housing White Paper, February 2017

Aims To investigate how parental socio-economic status influences young adults’ early housing trajectories To compare patterns across Britain, Germany and Australia

Data and (preliminary) approach Use BHPS/Understanding Society, SOEP and HILDA Step 1: Initial housing destinations (all countries) Select young people in the parental home (<35) and model first tenure destination using discrete time EHA Step 2: Homeownership transitions (UK only so far…) Select young people aged 18 living at home and use discrete time EHA to model transitions into homeownership Range of life course event and parental background predictors

Initial housing destinations UK: 4,947 males; 4,139 females DE: 8,544 males; 6,676 females AU: 5,966 males; 5,247 females

Entry into homeownership (ORs)

Discussion and next steps Parental owner-occupation accelerates homeownership transitions in Britain However - cumulative impact of parental linked lives is much greater Intergenerational transmission through a ‘bundle’ of interlinked processes Implications for contemporary housing experiences, not just long term social mobility and wealth inequality

Source: DCLG (2016) English Housing Survey Headline Report: Households

Discussion and next steps Parental socio-economic advantage accelerates homeownership transitions in Britain However - cumulative impact of parental linked lives is much greater Intergenerational transmission through a ‘bundle’ of processes Implications for contemporary housing experiences, not just long term social mobility and wealth inequality Next step: Cross-national comparison!

Acknowledgements This research is supported by an Economic and Social Research Council Future Research Leaders award [ES/L009498/1]. Additional financial support has been provided by the Isaac Newton Trust. The United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. UKHLS data were accessed via the UK Data Service. Neither the original collectors of the data nor the UK Data Service bear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented in this study.