A new working paper by E. Benassi and S. Bedük provides new evidence on young people’s homeownership in Europe. The authors find that homeownership at ages 25 to 35 has declined sharply across cohorts born in the 1970s to 1990s, with smaller but still notable declines at ages 40 to 50. Declines at earlier ages, more common among the economically advantaged, likely reflect delayed entry into homeownership, while declines at later ages, concentrated among the disadvantaged, suggest exclusion from ownership altogether.
The authors also show that cross-cohort declines are not explained by differences in the composition of work and family characteristics between cohorts, pointing to more structural factors such as rising house prices.
The study draws on EU-SILC data from 2005 to 2020, covering 24 European countries. It is open access at SocArxiV.
Benassi, E., & Bedük, S. (2025). Young People’s Homeownership in Europe: Delayed or Out of Reach? A Research Note.
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