Page 34 - ENGLISH_FullText

In a linear regression analysis on intergenerational mobility in
schooling attainment in Hong Kong (Wong, 2015b), it was found that children
who grew up in families that were homeowners, either in the private or
public sector, had significant schooling attainment advantages compared
to those living private rental housing. This connotes that homeownership
is a very powerful proxy for additional household wealth that is not
adequately measured by parent’s education and income. It was found
that the schooling advantages among those living in subsidised sales flats,
predominantly those in HOS units were as strong as those living in owned
homes in the private sector for the census years between 1981 and 2001.
However, the effects weakened significantly in the 2006 and 2011 census
years.

Additionally, the findings also revealed strong evidence that
children will experience significant education disadvantages if they were
recent immigrants, had parents who were recent immigrants, and grew up
in households with a single parent. The much discussed generational gap
between young people born in the 1980s and 1990s and their elders may
reflect the fact that a growing proportion of them grew up in single parent
households. The study concluded that the role of education is an important
factor for increasing productivity, and is by far the largest investment a
person can make in human capital.

This phenomenon is not restricted to Hong Kong. The results of
other earlier studies had also appeared to show that homeownership has
a positive effect on childhood development and human capital investment.
Green and White (1997) found that homeownership significantly raises
the chance of teenage students staying in school and lowers teenage
pregnancy compared to those in rental households in the United States.
Aaronson (2000) found that parental homeownership in low-income
neighbourhoods has a positive correlation on high school graduation.
Huarin, Parcel, and Huarin (2002) concluded that owning a home compared
with renting leads to a 13% to 23% higher quality home environment, better
cognitive ability and lower children’s behavioural problems.

Harkness and Newman (2003) indicated that among American
children in families with income less than 150% of the federal poverty line,
homeownership promoted educational attainment, earning, and welfare
independence when the child reaches young adulthood. This was not the
case for children of families with incomes more than 150 percent of the
poverty line. Their findings suggested that homeownership effects are not
only attributable to unobserved characteristics of homeownership, but
have causal benefits on adulthood development of children from less well-
off families.

The literature on the relation between homeownership and social
capital investment is equally sanguine. Rohe and Stewart’s (1996) analysis
of U.S. census data on homeownership and neighbourhood development
revealed that changes in homeownership rates are significantly associated
with increased property values. They argued that this was because
homeowners, unlike renters and landlords, have an economic and use
interest to maintain high standards in their neighbourhood. Thus, the
greater the security of their property, the greater the investment they

34