Social inequalities in the transition to home-ownership

This paper analyses, in a longitudinal perspective, whether home-ownership follows the well-known pattern of job-type in equality for the birth cohort s 1930, 1940, and 1950. Special attention is directed to understanding the surprising results of cross-sectional studies which show that during the fi rst decades after World War II the households of blue-collar workers were a s likely to become home-owners as were those of white-collar workers. Trans ition rate models for married men show that the chances of skilled workers and master craftsmen are indeed similar to those of white-collar workers an d civil servants. However, unskilled and semi-skilled workers are less like ly to attain home-ownership than other occupational groups. They seem to be better off in rural communities, where land prices are lower and support n etworks are more common. Clear indications are found for the relevance of i ntergenerational transfers. Home-ownership of parents increases the probabi lity of ownership in all social strata, though particularly so in the house holds of manual workers and lower and middle level white-collar workers.