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

Abstract

A proper family house is for many a self‐owned house with a private garden in a purely residential area. We analyse the relevance of having grown up in a parental home with a garden and in close proximity to green spaces for moving into a detached or terraced house for one or two families, whether rented or bought, which we call a “family house.” Simultaneously, we analyse whether the same predictors trigger becoming a homeowner, accounting for parental social class in both equations of bivariate probit models. On the basis of West German Socio‐Economic Panel data (1984–2016), the housing trajectories of respondents from age 16 are followed for up to 32 years (N = 8,005 persons). We find that having lived in a parental home with a garden increases the likelihood of moving into a family house but not the likelihood of first‐time homeownership. Likewise, parental homeownership increases exclusively the likelihood of adult children's first‐time homeownership. Parental home characteristics are found to be more important for adult children's housing type choice and tenure than social background. The results suggest that moves into a family house are triggered by intergenerational transmission of housing type preferences, whereas the transmission of homeownership is a parallel but distinguishable process. Additional findings about the importance of having lived close to public green spaces for both, housing choice and tenure, call for further research.