Elderly Mobility and the Occupancy Status of Single-Family Homes

Abstract

This research explores the occupancy status and tenure transitions of single-family homes from which elderly homeowners recently moved. First, we compare the housing and neighborhood characteristics of homes vacated by nonelderly and elderly homeowners. Then, we use a multinomial logit model to test the extent to which these characteristics are associated with the home's subsequent vacancy and tenure status. The results indicate that a lack of recent updates and modern amenities may hinder subsequent owner occupancy of homes vacated by the oldest homeowners.

Keywords:

• Housing quality
• elderly homeowners
• tenure
• quality
• elderly
• homeowners

Notes

¹ Three simplifying and important assumptions of life-cycle theory are that a householder knows when he or she will die, will spend all of his or her wealth prior to death, and has no motive to bequest wealth to heirs (Anderson et al., 2004). These assumptions obviously do not closely represent reality. In addition, elderly households may wish to maintain their home equity because of favorable treatment by means-tested benefit programs and as a form of financial insurance (Munnell et al., 2007).

² Two alternatives were considered for neighborhood characteristics, but were not pursued. The first alternative is the Metropolitan American Housing Survey (M-AHS), which provides AHS data for select metropolitan areas. The M-AHS identifies a ‘zone’ for each housing unit, which serves as a proxy for neighborhood. Various characteristics can then be aggregated to the ‘zone.’ However, zones are designed to include 100 000 residents, much larger than a typical neighborhood. The second alternative is the census data, which with permission can be attached to AHS data at designated on-site data centers. However, the census would only provide data on neighborhood socioeconomic conditions.