Who gets the Keys? Single-family homeownership trajectories in Sweden from gender and regional perspectives
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Research shows that housing situations, as well as housing trajectories, differ between women and men. We also know that income inequalities in many countries have increased over the last decades. Patterns of wealth accumulation however – which often are based around homeownership – remain less studied. Understanding homeownership is therefore key to understand also other aspects of economic development. We use Swedish register data on single-family home ownership to follow property value and ownership trajectories between men and women. The very strong local characteristics of housing markets also motivates integrating regional perspectives. Using cohort analysis, we address the following research questions; (i) how do single-family homeownership trajectories differ between men and women, (ii) are there signs that gender-based differences are changing over cohorts, and (iii) how do the patterns change in a regional context. Our analysis shows declining ownership for younger cohorts. While women enter housing ownership earlier than men, ownership rates of men surpass women over time. This raises questions on perceived advantages or early entry to the housing market. We find persisting differences between women and men, with potential long-term implications for an individual’s welfare over the lifecycle.