Block of flats

Housing

We examine trends in housing supply, allocation and affordability and the role that taxes, benefits and other policies play.

Instructor with students working on engine

How can policy boost productivity growth?

conference 25 March 2025 at 09:30

At this policy conference, four panels of experts gave their perspectives and recommendations on four key areas of the UK’s productivity problem.

Row of houses

How is tax damaging the housing market?

podcast

We discuss how taxes like capital gains, stamp duty, and council tax impact the housing market, affecting affordability, renting, and homeownership.

18 December 2024

A photo of houses with London in the background

Social mobility and wealth

conference 12 December 2023 at 10:30
At this in-person event, IFS researchers shared findings from ESRC-funded research on social mobility and its drivers.
Nice houses with city in the background

Social mobility and wealth

presentation

IFS researchers shared findings from ESRC-funded research on social mobility and its drivers.

12 December 2023

Article graphic

How does saving for retirement interact with buying a main home?

comment

People on middle and higher incomes need to save privately for retirement, but deciding when and how much to save is difficult. One particular trade-off people face is how much to save in a pension and how much to save for, or spend on, owner occupied housing. In new research published today we examine interactions between housing and and pension saving at two distinct stages of life.

1 December 2020

Working paper graphic

The impact of house prices on pension saving in early adulthood

working paper

In this paper, we estimate the effect of house prices on whether or not young adults actively save in a private pension. We use job-level data from a survey of employers, matched to average house prices at the level of an individuals’ location of employment, exploiting geographical variation in local house price movements in England over the decade 1997 to 2007.

1 December 2020

The temporary benefit increases beyond 2020-21

book chapter
The COVID-19 crisis has led to a profound shock to the labour market, one consequence of which is a rising number of claimants of means-tested benefits and higher entitlements among existing claimants.

9 October 2020

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Avocado toast or no bread on the table? How and why wealth might differ between generations

comment

Younger generations are accumulating no more wealth in the first decades of their working lives than did those born before them. This is a source of increasing concern. Our research suggests that this lower wealth accumulation need not be due to a change in attitudes among the young - it's not just because they are blowing all their money on avocado toast. Rather it could be because of underlying economic changes - earnings growth has stalled and the returns on savings and housing have fallen. Under these circumstances it is perfectly predictable that younger generations would build up less wealth; indeed, it is reasonable for them to have done so. Given this, policies trying to induce more saving may be counterproductive. The problem is with underlying economic trends, not with the behaviour of young people.

31 October 2019

Journal Article Cover

Life-cycle consumption patterns at older ages in the United States and the United Kingdom: can medical expenditures explain the difference?

journal articleAmerican Economic Journal: Economic Policy

This paper documents significantly steeper declines in nondurable expenditures at older ages in the United Kingdom compared to the United States, in spite of income paths being similar. Several possible causes are explored, including different employment paths, housing ownership and expenses, levels and paths of health status, number of household members, and out-of-pocket medical expenditures.

17 October 2019

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IFS Green Budget 2018

report

The IFS Green Budget 2018, in association with Citi, ICAEW and the Nuffield Foundation, is edited by Carl Emmerson, Christine Farquharson and Paul Johnson, and copy-edited by Judith Payne. The report looks at the issues and challenges facing Chancellor Philip Hammond as he prepares for his Budget later in October.

16 October 2018

Book graphic

Barriers to homeownership for young adults

book chapter
In this chapter, we examine the falling rate of homeownership among young adults. We investigate the key trends in the housing market that young adults face, and the barriers that they create for young prospective homeowners. In particular, using data on the incomes of young adults and the range of property prices in the areas in which they live, we examine the impact of deposit requirements and the cap on mortgage borrowing as a share of income.

8 October 2018

Publication graphic

The decline of homeownership among young adults

report

The falls in the proportion of young adults owning their own home have been documented in previous work. In this briefing note, we provide up-to-date analysis of these falls in homeownership, and which groups of young adults have seen the sharpest falls.

16 February 2018