Homeownership in old age and at the time of death

Homeownership in old age and at the time of death

GV Engelhardt, MD Eriksen

Journal paper

Economics Letters

2022

We construct estimates of U.S. homeownership rates as individuals age and die, using exit-interview data from the Health and Retirement Study. Homeownership falls to under 8% among the oldest old (centenarians). However, most Americans do not live that long—40%–50% die as homeowners. For those, 16% of housing assets are spent down in the final 16 months of life. The remainder is transferred to surviving spouses (52%) and other heirs (32%).