Assessing the accessibility of the homeownership market

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the accessibility of the homeownership market using measures that include both supply and demand characteristics of regional housing markets. We apply these measures empirically on an extensive data set that covers the Dutch housing market. Our analysis quantifies the extent to which the position of new entrants of the homeownership market, the first-time buyers, has weakened over the sample period and we identify which factors are driving this change. We find that due to financial constraints of young households smaller portions of the housing market are becoming affordable. However, more importantly, we report that first-time buyers today need to contend with a much larger group of competing bidders on every house that suits their financial situation, than ever before.

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