Falling out of love and down the housing ladder: A longitudinal analysis of marital separation and home ownership

We analyse the interdependence between marital separation and home ownership. Past research showed that separations reduce the likelihood of owning a home. We add to this literature by allowing partners to be aware of the risk of separation in our empirical analysis. We analyse (i) residential moves to owned and rented dwellings and (ii) the selection processes between ownership and separation. We also assess differences by gender and for two different institutional contexts, Britain and Germany. Drawing on results from two longitudinal surveys (British Household Panel Survey and Socio-Economic Panel Study, 1991-2008), we find that separation is negatively associated with ownership. Part of this effect is explained by lower prior investments in ownership by those who separate, but the effect is partly a direct consequence of separation. Although ownership rates increase again after repartnering, these rates do not reach the levels of the first marriage. Although the effect of separation has a universal character, substantial differences in housing markets allow ex-partners in Britain to maintain relatively high levels of ownership after a separation, while ownership rates fall dramatically in Germany.