Do older poor Europeans haveless access to home ownership? Evidence from the SHARE survey

Home-ownership is the most important asset among old people in Europe,but so far very little is known about gender differences. This paper is aimedn at exploring the link between gender, family type, monetary poverty and home tenure among older European population. The analysis is carried out on a SHARE 2.0.1 sub-sample of about 28.000 individuals, aged 50 or over, living in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden. A multinomial regression model is used to delineate the profile of old people excluded from home ownership distinguishing between tenant and rent-free, controlling for a plurality of covariates. Results reveal a more complex picture than simple predictions. Other things being equal, women are more likely to be excluded from home ownership than men and they more often belong the rent-free categories. Women are more protected when they live in couples. Overall, poor people appear more likely to be excluded from home ownership than the not poor, especially if they are women living in enlarged families or men and women living alone.