Does Homeownership Matter? The Long-Term Consequences of Losing a House during the Great Recession

Heidi Artigue, Patrick Bayer, Fernando Ferreira and Stephen Ross

No 33692, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We examine the long-term impact of owning versus renting a home in the United States. Our research design compares two groups of homeowners who experienced similar negative income shocks during the Great Recession but had different probabilities of retaining their homes due to mortgage modifications. While the two groups exhibit nearly identical pre-trends, they diverge by 36 percentage points in home retention. More than half of this disparity persists nearly a decade later, translating into average housing capital gains of $83,000. However, homeownership and housing wealth did not affect creditworthiness, consumption, or neighborhood quality, partly due to tightening credit constraints.

JEL-codes: G51 R21 R28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-04
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