Guillaume Xhignesse

An Econometric Analysis of Homeownership Determinants in Belgium

In market economies, homeownership is associated with positive externalities. Increasing the levels of homeownership has been an objective of governments for the last decades. The analysis of the determinants of tenure status provides information to this end. This paper proposes an econometric analysis of housing tenure in Belgium. We review the main variables that have been considered in the literature as influencing housing tenure, after what we estimate a logit model. We observe a strong influence of income and age on the probability of homeownership. Couple relationship and the presence of dependent children have a positive influence, but this influence is less significant. Urban location is associated with lower probability of homeownership, compared with other areas. Our observations follow the trends described for other countries in the literature.