Unlocking housing wealth through mortgage debt: do patterns and motivations vary by age?
Successive waves of house price appreciation have prompted homeowners to tap into housing wealth, increasing mortgage debt to meet spending needs. This paper addresses three questions about equity borrowing behaviour via panel-data modelling. First, how do homeowners’ asset and debt portfolios affec...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
2024
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| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT200100422 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/95910 |
| _version_ | 1848766057523707904 |
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| author | Ong ViforJ, Rachel Phelps, Christopher |
| author_facet | Ong ViforJ, Rachel Phelps, Christopher |
| author_sort | Ong ViforJ, Rachel |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Successive waves of house price appreciation have prompted homeowners to tap into housing wealth, increasing mortgage debt to meet spending needs. This paper addresses three questions about equity borrowing behaviour via panel-data modelling. First, how do homeowners’ asset and debt portfolios affect equity borrowing behaviour? Second, is equity borrowing influenced by financial behaviours relating to saving, planning and risk-taking? Third, do equity borrowing drivers vary by age? Our findings confirm that equity borrowing is generally influenced by asset and debt portfolios, with notable age-related differences. Younger homeowners exhibit greater sensitivity to changes in primary home value and debt, and risk willingness. Income, labour force status and ownership of other property are crucial for those aged 55–64, while homeowners aged 65+ are generally insensitive to asset, debt or income changes. We discuss policy implications, emphasizing the prospects of longer working lives among pre-retirees, the need for safeguards for elderly equity-borrowers, and the welfare consequences of later-life debt burdens or homeownership loss. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:45:06Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-95910 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:45:06Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-959102024-09-24T09:09:28Z Unlocking housing wealth through mortgage debt: do patterns and motivations vary by age? Ong ViforJ, Rachel Phelps, Christopher Successive waves of house price appreciation have prompted homeowners to tap into housing wealth, increasing mortgage debt to meet spending needs. This paper addresses three questions about equity borrowing behaviour via panel-data modelling. First, how do homeowners’ asset and debt portfolios affect equity borrowing behaviour? Second, is equity borrowing influenced by financial behaviours relating to saving, planning and risk-taking? Third, do equity borrowing drivers vary by age? Our findings confirm that equity borrowing is generally influenced by asset and debt portfolios, with notable age-related differences. Younger homeowners exhibit greater sensitivity to changes in primary home value and debt, and risk willingness. Income, labour force status and ownership of other property are crucial for those aged 55–64, while homeowners aged 65+ are generally insensitive to asset, debt or income changes. We discuss policy implications, emphasizing the prospects of longer working lives among pre-retirees, the need for safeguards for elderly equity-borrowers, and the welfare consequences of later-life debt burdens or homeownership loss. 2024 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/95910 10.1080/02673037.2024.2400158 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT200100422 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Ong ViforJ, Rachel Phelps, Christopher Unlocking housing wealth through mortgage debt: do patterns and motivations vary by age? |
| title | Unlocking housing wealth through mortgage debt: do patterns and motivations vary by age? |
| title_full | Unlocking housing wealth through mortgage debt: do patterns and motivations vary by age? |
| title_fullStr | Unlocking housing wealth through mortgage debt: do patterns and motivations vary by age? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unlocking housing wealth through mortgage debt: do patterns and motivations vary by age? |
| title_short | Unlocking housing wealth through mortgage debt: do patterns and motivations vary by age? |
| title_sort | unlocking housing wealth through mortgage debt: do patterns and motivations vary by age? |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT200100422 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/95910 |