Volume 16, Issue 2

2005

 

Does housing help to increase or temper the widening gap in the distribution of wealth? Paradoxically, it may do both. Housing wealth is still the cornerstone of household wealth, and homeowners hold almost all of the nation’s wealth. The uneven distribution of household net wealth is worsening, even though housing helped homeowners increase net wealth during the last recession. Because housing wealth is more balanced than other types of wealth and home equity is more important to low-income and minority households, it helps create a more egalitarian overall distribution of wealth.

 

This article demonstrates that the relationship between housing wealth and the distribution of household net wealth and other types of wealth is significant and should be included in the criteria that frame future debates on housing policy.