Accommodation Downsizing

OverviewAging in place policies are a common response of governments to population aging (See “Aging in Place”). Typically, this involves increasing aged care services delivered to the home and home modifications to improve accessibility, thereby reducing (or postponing) transitions to more costly institutional aged care (See “Home Modifications”). This aligns with the desire of many older people to remain in their family homes for as long as possible (Venti and Wise 1990; Olsberg and Winters 2005; Croucher 2008; Judd et al. 2010; Porteus 2011; Fernald 2014; James 2016a). However, contradictory factors to “staying put” include the unsuitability/inaccessibility of the design of conventional housing stock; the increasing maintenance burden accompanying declining ability or sudden shocks of illness, disability, relationship breakdown, and partner’s death; claims of underutilization of housing by older people; and potential for reducing housing equity to support nonhousing consumption due to reduced post retirement income (See “Home Equity Conversions”). These constitute the main arguments for older people downsizing their accommodation to continue aging in place. However, downsizing among older people is not as prevalent or straightforward as this implies

The dynamics of home-ownership among the 50+ in Europe

We use life history data covering households in thirteen European countries to analyse residential moves past age 50. We observe four types of moves: renting to owning, owning to renting, trading up or trading down for home-owners. We find that in the younger group (aged 50-64) trading up and purchase decisions prevail; in the older group (65+), trading down and selling are more common. Overall, moves are rare, particularly in countries characterized by high transaction costs. Most moves are driven by changes in household composition (divorce, widowhood, nest-leaving by children), but economic factors play a role: low income households who are house-rich and cash-poor are more likely to sell their home late in life

Union Worker Wage Effect in the Public Sector

Public sector, Union wage premiums,

Financial shocks and worry about the future

Anxiety, Worry, Expectations, D10, D80,