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Abstract
A combination of the demographic trend of an ageing population and the increase in wealth in owner‐occupied dwellings over the last decade raises a new research question in the Netherlands. How do the Dutch elderly spend their housing wealth and what can be predicted about their future behaviour? They may use their housing equity to provide an income in old age, or they may pass on their housing wealth to descendants. By compiling evidence available in the Netherlands, this article examines the use(s) to which the Dutch elderly put their housing wealth. The analysis is based on data, literature and information collected during interviews with elderly people. The main conclusion is that housing wealth will, for the greater part, keep on functioning as unused savings for the Dutch elderly for the foreseeable future.
Acknowledgements
In this paper use is made of data of the DNB Household Survey (http://www.uvt.nl/centerdata/dhs/). An earlier version of this paper was presented at the International ISA Research Conference “Adequate and Affordable Housing for All”, Toronto, Canada, 24–27 June 2004. The author thanks the interviewees who helped to fill an information gap, and two referees and colleague Harry van der Heijden for their very useful suggestions.