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So you think owning a home will make you happy? Don't be too sure

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-07-02 15:57

Joy versus Pain

In her analysis Bucchianeri focused on the individual responses and general satisfaction questions, particularly those most relative to her inquiry into homeownership, such as the amount of joy or pain derived from house and home.

She used 2000 census data to factor in education, household income and average housing prices to add additional controls that would help her boil down the data to determine whether homeownership itself makes people happier and more satisfied with their lives.

At first glance, the findings reflect the conventional wisdom that homeowners on average tend to be more satisfied with their lives as well as their neighborhoods and homes.

However, even on an unadjusted basis, it is clear that homeowners also derive as much pain from their home that is similar in magnitude and significance to the joy they gain from homeownership.

Bucchianeri's research indicates that even after controls are applied for financial insecurity -- which is often cited in prior research as the main negative of homeownership -- homeowners report more pain associated with their home.

The research also tends to rebut theories that homeowners are happier because they enjoy greater self-esteem and a greater sense of control in their lives.

The average homeowner tends to spend less time on active leisure or with friends, experiences more negative feelings during time spent with friends, derives less joy from love and relationships and is also less likely to enjoy being with people, according to the research paper.

Bucchianeri notes that these results do not support the perception that homeowners are "gregarious" but they also do not paint homeowners as being overly burdened with housework.

The average homeowner spends less time on leisure -- around three percentage points -- compared to the average respondent in the sample who spends 13.4 percent of her time awake on active leisure.

On top of all else, the average homeowner tended to be 12 pounds heavier, according to the research. The study found no significant differences in sleep quality, or the use of sleeping pills or depression medication.

Homeownership and social participation

In addition to investigating these private, or individual, benefits, Bucchianeri also examined civic aspects of homeownership.

Again, she found that despite the conventional wisdom, homeowners are not significantly different in terms of civic participation or social connectedness than renters.

The paper states that the most striking finding in regard to social interaction is that average homeowners spend 4 percent to 6 percent less time interacting with friends and neighbors and experience more negative feelings when they are with other people.

At the same time, these homeowners spend a similar amount of time with their spouses as renters do and less time with their parents and relatives.

"So far, my results are contrary to the intuition that homeownership fosters more involved or better family lives. Indeed, it points to less active and less enjoyable social lives," Bucchianeri writes.

When it comes to homeownership and civic participation and social connectedness, Bucchianeri compared indicators such as volunteer work, joy or pain experienced from activities in the community and pain from politics -- but she finds no significant differences by homeownership status. She also discovers little difference between homeowners and renters in participation in religion or satisfaction derived from it.

When Bucchianeri examines civic participation of homeowners against the rate of homeownership in the respondent's neighborhood, she finds evidence that higher ownership rates in the respondents' own demographic and household income groups leads to lower reported pain from the neighborhood.

"I do find results that if you are surrounded by people who are homeowners like you, that makes you enjoy the neighborhood and contributes to a positive attitude," says Bucchianeri.

She adds that these findings suggest that looking at homeowners versus renters in this context may be too narrow an approach. "It may be more fruitful to look at the mechanics to capture the interactions among homeowners."

Bucchianeri notes that despite the evidence that homeowners do not appear to be living as if they are in a dream, her results would actually tend toward an upward bias in well-being outcomes for homeowners.

Homeownership may also open up new opportunities for pain that Bucchianeri can study in the future, including the joy or disappointment homeowners experience as a result of their relative housing position.

She says it is difficult to pull out solid findings, "but I think that on average people like living in zip codes with a higher median housing value so they can live in reflected glory."

Bucchianeri cautions that her research should not be used as an argument against homeownership, just as the abstract notion of the American Dream should not be used as an across-the-board endorsement for buying a home.

People should balance what they are hoping to get from homeownership itself," she says. "It's really difficult, but more thinking should go into this rather than just accepting the conventional wisdom and going into homeownership by default."

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