Housing transactions and the changing decisions of young households in Britain: The microeconomic evidence

In this second of two related papers in this issue, the causes of declining levels of housing transactions in Britain during the 1990s are explored. The lower transaction levels resulted partly from the changing behavior of young individuals. Both household formation and owner-occupation rates of these groups also fell sharply. Using panel data, we investigate the causes of reduced new household formation and owner-occupation, finding that changes in the income distribution away from young cohorts have been an important factor.