Time Since Separation, Repartnering, and Homeownership in England and Wales, and Germany

Separation, divorce, and repartnering are increasingly common across European societies. These partnership transitions are closely related to individuals' housing careers. For example, after separation, individuals are likely to move out of homeownership and experience a period of elevated residential mobility. However, little is known about the role of repartnering for post-separation housing careers. This paper investigates homeownership levels among separated and repartnered individuals in Germany, and England and Wales, two societies with similar levels of economic development but different welfare and housing systems. We use multi-level logistic regression to study the probability of being a homeowner on combined data from the British Household Panel Survey and the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study, and the German Socio-Economic Panel. We find that separated individuals are significantly less likely to own a home than those who are married or cohabiting in both countries. Homeownership levels increase over time since separation, but this increase is largely associated with repartnering. Homeownership rates remain low among separated individuals who do not repartner, especially among those with low socio-economic status. We conclude that separation has a long-term effect on individuals' housing careers, which exacerbates existing housing inequalities particularly in countries such as England and Wales where homeownership is the main tenure type.