Wealth Inequalities and Homeownership – Two Perspectives

The provision of affordable housing has been a matter of great concern in almost all middle- and high-income countries for at least the last two decades. To address this challenge, various policies have been developed and implemented. While wealth inequality has generally risen in the last three centuries (Pfeffer & Waitkus, 2021), Dustmann et al. (2022) demonstrate that “changes in the housing market can be a key driver for increased inequality in income after housing expenditure (…)”. Their study illustrates that housing affordability of the bottom income quintile decreased while housing became more affordable for high-income earners, thus showing that housing in general and housing policies in specific are a matter of great concern for inequality research (...)