TY - JOUR
T1 - Homeownership out of reach? Intergenerational transfers and homeownership reproduction in middle class families in Rome, Italy
AU - Gentili, Martina
AU - Hoekstra, Joris
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Access to homeownership for young adults is becoming more and more difficult. Italy – where homeownership rates for young adults are steadily decreasing – is a case in point. In the recent past, becoming homeowner was an obvious housing pathway for Italian young adults, even from lower-middle class families. If your parents were homeowner, you became homeowner as well, often with the help of intergenerational transfers. However, the Italian reproduction of homeownership is under severe pressure, as a result of the economic crisis and the subsequent austerity measures. Through in-depth interviews with young adults and their parents, this paper shows how deeply ingrained social expectations and aspirations surrounding homeownership – together with an objective lack of rental options – result in young adults staying longer in their parental home and becoming independent at a later age. This may have a negative impact on the social and economic dynamics within Italian society.
AB - Access to homeownership for young adults is becoming more and more difficult. Italy – where homeownership rates for young adults are steadily decreasing – is a case in point. In the recent past, becoming homeowner was an obvious housing pathway for Italian young adults, even from lower-middle class families. If your parents were homeowner, you became homeowner as well, often with the help of intergenerational transfers. However, the Italian reproduction of homeownership is under severe pressure, as a result of the economic crisis and the subsequent austerity measures. Through in-depth interviews with young adults and their parents, this paper shows how deeply ingrained social expectations and aspirations surrounding homeownership – together with an objective lack of rental options – result in young adults staying longer in their parental home and becoming independent at a later age. This may have a negative impact on the social and economic dynamics within Italian society.
KW - Homeownership
KW - Intergenerational transfers
KW - Italy
KW - Middle-class
KW - Young adults
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107608068&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cities.2021.103277
DO - 10.1016/j.cities.2021.103277
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107608068
VL - 116
JO - Cities: the international journal of urban policy and planning
JF - Cities: the international journal of urban policy and planning
SN - 0264-2751
M1 - 103277
ER -