Countries with the fewest homeowners have the shortest unemployment lines, and vice-versa, says a member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee.
In a speech in London last night, Professor David Blanchflower said that the three European countries with the highest rates of home ownership in the 1990s — Ireland, Spain and Finland — also led Europe in unemployment, around 20% in each case.
And conversely, Switzerland currently has the lowest rate of home ownership in Europe and the lowest amount of unemployment.
Blanchflower speculated that home ownership reduces labor mobility because owners find it more costly to move where the jobs are.
- Guardian: Reducing home ownership cuts unemployment
- Dartmouth University: David G. Blanchflower
I wonder if high home ownership is also killing the economy because of how much people end up having to pay for their homes.
I am sure that had I remained a renter my housing costs would have been half for the past 14 years. I suppose people also only rent up to their needs, where they purchase to their wants.