Age differentiation in the effect of household situation on first-time homeownership

To become a homeowner, it is necessary to have sufficient resources and stability in the household situation. In existing studies, household type is often used as a proxy forlevel of stability. Household types with a highlevel of commitment (married couples without and with children) are regarded as stable households, and singles and cohabitors as less stable households. In this paper, it is argued that stability can be reached not only by making a commitment, but also by growing older. Increasing age brings stability into the lives of singles and cohabitors. Age also matters for the structure of resources and costs of different household types. From a combination of theory on age and theory on homeownership in the life course, five hypotheses are derived.They are tested on retrospective data by using discrete-time event-history analysis. From a model with interaction effects, it can be seen whether the probability of becoming a homeowner differs between household types in differentage groups. The results show that married couples have the highest probability of becoming homeowners in age group 18-24, whereas the probability is highest for cohabitors inage group 25-29, and in age group 30-34 for singles. This supports the idea that people become homeowners either when they make a commitment, or when stability is created through the passage of time in a less committing household type.