Housing affordability among older adults

In recent years we have seen a growing housing affordability crisis in the Netherlands. In current literature, attention is focused on how the housing crisis affects the ability to acquire housing. However, older adults might be affected differently compared to the younger population as they are often on fixed incomes. This thesis examines how housing affordability among older adults has changed between 2006 and 2021 concerning housing tenure, in the Netherlands, using the expenditure-to-income approach. It argues that housing affordability among older adults improved between 2006 and 2021.

However, this is largely due to a shift in tenure from social renting towards mortgaged owner-occupation. Therefore, we do not have to worry too much about housing affordability among older adults. Instead, the focus should be on those in the private rental tenure, where expenditure-to-income ratios are still above the affordability threshold.

Also Read: Housing affordability in a monetary economy: An agent-based model of the Dutch housing market