Housing Costs and the Elderly

Estimates are made of changes in average housing costs and average family incomes for non-moving elderly homeowners and renters over the period 1972–80. Findings suggest that: rental costs are higher in each time period than are homeownership costs; evidence of serious deterioration in affordability of housing is weak, when looking at aggregate price/income ratios; and it is clear that elderly renters are more seriously disadvantaged in housing affordability than are elderly homeowners at every time period.