Housing wealth, fertility intentions and fertility

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that housing and housing markets impact a variety of behaviors and outcomes. Using a rich panel of Australian microlevel data, we estimated the effect of housing price changes on both fertility intentions and fertility outcomes. The analysis indicates that the likelihood of having a child among homeowners is positively related to an increase in housing wealth. The positive housing wealth effect has the greatest impact on the fertility and fertility intentions of Australian homeowners who are young and mortgage holders. In comparison, there is evidence that increases in housing prices decrease the fertility intentions of private renters with children.