Housing wealth and housing portfolios in an ageing society

Dutch house prices are higher than ever. Many homeowners have substantial amounts of housing equity and many would-be homeowners take large mortgage loans to be able to purchase a house.This paper discusses the economic literature on housing demand to shed light on these and related topics. It starts with a presentation of some stylized facts about the current Dutch housing market,continues with an analysis of the role of credit constraints and various types of uncertainty, and concludes with a discussion of some relevant policy issues.