What drives someone’s decision about whether to own or rent their home? Economists tend to focus on financial factors such as user costs and return on investment. Sociologists, on the other hand, generally emphasize lifestyle factors, such as family status and mobility. Overlooked in most prior research on housing tenure (i.e. whether to own or rent) are the effect of individual beliefs about the benefits of homeownership on such decisions. Said another way, how do our expectations of outcomes associated with homeownership influence our desire to own?
via Housing Perspectives (from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies).