Housing wealth and household portfolios in an aging society

Housing is one of the most important consumption goods, also for the elderly. Moreover, home equity is usually the most important asset in the investment portfolio of owner-occupiers, and household wealth of the elderly is thus extremely sensitive to developments on the housing market. This panel paper surveys the literature on housing as a consumption good and asset category over the life cycle, and presents stylised facts on the housing-market behaviour of Dutch households over their life cycle.