A Study on the Impact of Inheritance and Gift on the Housing Tenure Choice of Tenant Households

Abstract

In this study, the probit model explains the effect of inheritance and gift amounts on renters’ choice in housing tenure. The data is from the Korea National Survey of Tax and Benefit (NaSTaB). After left-censoring the renters as of 2010, we estimate the panel probit model to explore the effect of the amount of inheritance and gifts on people's tenure choices. As a result of the estimation, inheritance and gift amount variables have a statistically significant positive effect on the home buying behavior of rental households. When comparing their marginal effects, we find that the amount of inheritance has a more substantial effect when the total sample is used. In contrast, the gift amount variable has a more considerable effect when using the sub-sample that consists of either inheritance or gift or both. In the case of the renters’ home purchase decision, the financial support of parents and third parties may serve as an equity down payment. We present the policy recommendations to encourage behaviors related to inheritance and gifts that affect the redistribution of assets between generations.