The Housing Ladder, the Housing Life-cycle and the Housing Life-course: Upward and Downward Movement among Repeat Home-buyers in a US Metropolitan Housing Market

Abstract

This research models US home-owners' decisions to move up or down in price. The models are based on three common conceptualisations: the housing ladder, the housing life-cycle and the housing life-course that use age of the householder as a measure of position in life. Age can be a proxy for many characteristics and we test several alternative measures using unique survey data that allow us to examine specific life-course variables. We conclude that, on an empirical level, age works reasonably well. However, we prefer a more complete formulation that includes presence of children, divorced or separated householder, income, age at first homeownership and duration of ownership as being conceptually more accurate and more useful in policy-making.