Comparative Analysis of Entry to Home Ownership

Entry to home ownership (EHO) is one of the most significant steps that a household takes during household careers (1). It is not only an economic decision of households but also a social and cultural attitude towards housing. It has spatial repercussions within the urban arena as well. In the literature, the process of entry to home ownership has been studied numerous times (Fejitsen and Mulder, 2002; Megbolugbe and Linneman (1993); Clark, Deurloo and Dieleman (1997); Dieleman and Everaers (1994); Mulder and Wagner (1998) etc.) for different countries. In many of them, factors hypothetically affect this process are found similar and may be grouped under four headings as: household status, characteristics of housing stock, socio-cultural factors, housing finance and external factors. EHO process involves additionally, socio-economic and demographic characteristics of countries and ideological and political contexts.