Why has home ownership become disproportionately inaccessible for young Americans?

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dc.contributor.authorVij, Sehaj
dc.date.accessioned2026-04-20T21:45:02Z
dc.date.available2026-04-20T21:45:02Z
dc.date.issued2026
dc.description.abstractYoung Americans are struggling to buy homes. This project asks why homeownership is less attainable for ages 25–34 and whether rising older-cohort incomes (ages 45–54) crowd out younger buyers. Using a cohort-based supply–demand framework, the theory predicts that stronger older purchasing power can raise housing demand and prices, reducing affordability for younger households. This is tested using annual time-series regressions of young-cohort homeownership on older-cohort income, young-cohort income, mortgage rates, unemployment, college attainment, and a linear time trend. The results show that young-cohort income is the strongest predictor of young homeownership, and the time trend is negative and statistically significant, indicating an important long-run decline in homeownership for ages 25–34. When young income is excluded from the model, older-cohort income becomes positive and statistically significant, suggesting it may be capturing broader affordability and macroeconomic trends that move with income over time rather than a stable, independent crowd-out effect.
dc.description.reviewstatusReviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelUndergraduate
dc.description.sponsorshipJamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA)
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/23646
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Victoria
dc.subjecthome ownership
dc.subjecthousing affordability
dc.subjectcrowding out effect
dc.subjectincome
dc.subjectJamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA)
dc.subject.departmentDepartment of Economics
dc.titleWhy has home ownership become disproportionately inaccessible for young Americans?
dc.typePoster

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