- Divorcees out in the cold
- By Adele Horin
- Sydney Morning Herald
- 20/02/2008 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 27 articles in 2008 )
WOMEN may get the house after divorce but many are forced to sell up, probably because they cannot afford the mortgage repayments, a study funded by the Federal Government shows.
Contrary to popular perceptions, women are more likely than men to fall out of home ownership after separation or divorce, and to suffer severe financial difficulties in keeping a roof over their head.
The study, by a team of researchers for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, will be presented at the National Housing Conference in Sydney later this week.
It shows that losing a partner, especially through marriage break-up, has dramatic short-term financial consequences for home buyers, renters, and for those in public housing (one partner usually has to move into the private housing market).
For example, among those couples who had been buying their home, 50 per cent were renting within two years of the marriage dissolution, the study found. But the consequences are typically worse for separated and divorced women, and last longer. They are more likely than their male counterparts to end up living in rental housing - and to be stuck there because of their lower rates of finding a new partner.
"It is actually women rather than men who are most likely to fall out of home-ownership," the study says.
Mike Dockery, research associate in the school of economics and finance at Curtin University, and a principal author of the study, said typically women ended up with the house and the children but financially that was not always the best outcome. "Because of the stress of mortgage payments, or because the house is bigger than they really need, their finances suffer. They may sell up and often women don't have the capacity to get back on the housing ladder."
Men, on the other hand, may move into a smaller residence and were more likely to repartner, which helped put them back on the home ownership pathway.
The researchers tracked 310 people to determine how their housing situation changed in the two years after marriage break-up or bereavement. Their situation was compared with that of couples who were still together.
The rate of overall home ownership among the divorced and separated fell from 69 per cent to 52 per cent within the two years while it moved in the opposite direction - to almost 90 per cent - for couples who stayed together.
The study said high divorce rates posed an increasing threat to Australia's traditionally high rate of home ownership.
Contrary to popular perceptions, women are more likely than men to fall out of home ownership after separation or divorce, and to suffer severe financial difficulties in keeping a roof over their head.
The study, by a team of researchers for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, will be presented at the National Housing Conference in Sydney later this week.
It shows that losing a partner, especially through marriage break-up, has dramatic short-term financial consequences for home buyers, renters, and for those in public housing (one partner usually has to move into the private housing market).
For example, among those couples who had been buying their home, 50 per cent were renting within two years of the marriage dissolution, the study found. But the consequences are typically worse for separated and divorced women, and last longer. They are more likely than their male counterparts to end up living in rental housing - and to be stuck there because of their lower rates of finding a new partner.
"It is actually women rather than men who are most likely to fall out of home-ownership," the study says.
Mike Dockery, research associate in the school of economics and finance at Curtin University, and a principal author of the study, said typically women ended up with the house and the children but financially that was not always the best outcome. "Because of the stress of mortgage payments, or because the house is bigger than they really need, their finances suffer. They may sell up and often women don't have the capacity to get back on the housing ladder."
Men, on the other hand, may move into a smaller residence and were more likely to repartner, which helped put them back on the home ownership pathway.
The researchers tracked 310 people to determine how their housing situation changed in the two years after marriage break-up or bereavement. Their situation was compared with that of couples who were still together.
The rate of overall home ownership among the divorced and separated fell from 69 per cent to 52 per cent within the two years while it moved in the opposite direction - to almost 90 per cent - for couples who stayed together.
The study said high divorce rates posed an increasing threat to Australia's traditionally high rate of home ownership.
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