Intergenerational Transfers as a Response to Changes in the Housing Market in Slovenia

Abstract

In our paper we analyze the incidence of intergenerational family transfers in relation to the changing conditions in the housing market and the market for housing finance and transformations in the institutional framework. The results imply that the incidence of intergenerational transfers is tied to the changing conditions in the housing market and the prevailing level of interest rates. Intergenerational transfers for a home purchase therefore act as an informal source of housing finance and play a strong cushioning role in terms of the harsh market conditions along with a housing policy that gives households hardly any alternative to homeownership.

Key Words:

• Intergenerational family transfers
• housing market
• housing policy

Notes

1. For empirical studies of those relationships see, for example, Linneman & Wachter, (1989); Jones, (1989); Zorn, (1989); Haurin (1991); Rosenthal et al., (1991); Engelhardt, (1994); Duca & Rosenthal, (1994); Sheiner, (1995); Lafayette et al., (1995); Haurin et al., (1996); Moriizumi, (2000); Rosenthal, (2001).

2. Up until 1997 no mortgage-based financing existed in Slovenia so housing loans were predominantly insured by insurance companies. Also in 2004 only 22% of outstanding housing loans were secured by a mortgage.

3. In Ljubljana only 10 per cent of applicants can be housed within municipal rental housing.

4. The survey was conducted by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana for the National Housing Fund.

5. In Slovenia the rate of the gift tax depends on the relationship between the recipient and the donor and on the gift's market value The tax rate is 5–30 per cent; however, no gift tax is charged if the donor is the recipient's parent or spouse.

6. The bias has also been tested. If the bias were significant, the average size of dwellings would be larger in more distant years. However, statistical tests do not show any significant differences in the average dwelling size.

7. Source of data: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2007.

8. Source of data: Slovenian Central Bank, 2007.

9. The influence of loan maturity is excluded from the analysis since no annual data is available. Besides, the average maturity was relatively constant in the range of 10–15 years.

10. Amount of loan (n-repayment period and interest rate r) with a 33 per cent payment-to-income ratio equals INCOME*0.33*[1/r-(1/(r*(1+r) ⁿ ))].