Housing careers, intergenerational support and family relations

Abstract

The home and family have always been mutually embedded, with the former central to the realization and reproduction of the latter. More recently, this mutuality has taken on a more critical salience as realignments in housing markets, employment and welfare states in many countries have worked together to undermine housing access for new households. In this context, families have become increasingly involved in smoothening the routes of young adults members up the 'housing ladder' into home ownership. Intergenerational support appears to have become much more widespread and not just confined to familialistic welfare regimes. The role of intergenerational support for housing remains, however, highly differentiated across countries, cities and regions, as well as uneven between social and income classes. This introduction to the Special Issue explores how the role of housing wealth transfers has impacted the renegotiation of the generational contract. In doing so, it sets the scene for the articles that follow, each of which contribute significantly to advancing understanding of housing as a key driver of contemporary social relations and inequalities.

Divided Tokyo: Housing Policy, the Ideology of Homeownership, and the Growing Contrast Between the City Center and the Suburbs

“…Therefore, the history of land and house ownership by individuals in Japan is relatively short. Even as recently as 1941, the homeownership rate was only 22% in major Japanese cities (Ronald 2008). Importantly, family members did not share equally in the family's property.…”

“…In Japan, the ideology of homeownership became increasingly valued during the period of rapid economic growth beginning after the 1960s (Ronald 2008). However, the high costs of land and housing meant that there was a lack of affordable housing options in metropolitan centers, which led to a major suburban boom from the 1960 to the 1980s (Tani 1997), mostly concerning detached houses (Hasegawa 1997;Matsubara 1982).…”

“…Traditionally, city centers have been avoided as residential areas because of their undesirable sanitary conditions, concerns over air and water pollution, and shortages of residential units that meet the needs of nuclear families. The ideology that supported suburban homeownership from the 1960 to the 1990s(Ronald 2008) has rapidly faded. This has been replaced by a new urban lifestyle involving condominiums in the city center(Kubo and Yui 2011a).…”

Intergenerational transmission of housing choice: The relevance of green spaces for moving into a family house across social class

“…Parental homeownership was found to accelerate young adults' entry into homeownership in various contexts (Bayrakdar et al, ; Coulter, ; Kurz, ; Lersch & Luijkx, ; Mulder, Dewilde, van Duijn, & Smits, ; Mulder & Wagner, ), whereas other parental characteristics like education (Mulder & Wagner, ), single parenthood or step‐parenthood, and number of siblings (Bayrakdar et al, ; Lersch & Luijkx, ) were barely influential. There is evidence that the parents of home buyers are involved in an increasing number of property transactions in European countries (Ronald & Lennartz, ) and that the influence of parental tenure on the transition into homeownership has increased (Coulter, ; Kurz, ), especially in expensive housing markets (Mulder et al, ).…”

“…There is evidence that the parents of home buyers are involved in an increasing number of property transactions in European countries (Ronald & Lennartz, 2018) and that the influence of parental tenure on the transition into homeownership has increased (Coulter, 2018;Kurz, 2004b), especially in expensive housing markets .…”