Despite the continuing preference for homeownership, it has become increasingly difficult for young adults to own a home in Britain. House prices have increased faster than real earnings between the mid-1990s and the 2010s, resulting in significantly deteriorated affordability. Mortgage products have also become less accessible, as a large deposit has been required to secure the loan after the financial crisis of 2008/09. Previous studies point to the increasing role of intergenerational transfers in filling this gap. Some young adults obtain help from family to become homeowners, either receiving monetary support or by saving through living at the parental home. Using the Wealth and Assets Survey, this study attempts to examine the effect of these two types of family financial support on young adults’ homeownership circumstances, and controlling for other characteristics such as parental homeownership. First, it examines the characteristics of homeowners among young adults cross-sectionally using logistic regression. Second, by focusing on the non-homeowner subsample it analyses the effect of direct (money) and indirect (co-residence) family support on young adults’ entry to homeownership in the six-year period using discrete-time event history analysis. The results show that chances of young adults’ homeownership between 2008/10 and 2014/16 are very much tied to family support. The odds of becoming homeowners who have received direct or indirect support are found to be three times higher, even after accounting for other characteristics.

Article (Accepted Version) http://sro.sussex.ac.uk Suh, Ellie and Holmes, Lisa (2022) A critical review of cost-effectiveness research in children's social care: what have we learnt so far? Social Policy and Administration. pp. 1-15.

This study examines retirement saving activity outside the state and workplace pension saving schemes among British adults aged between 30 and 49 on the premise that individuals are increasingly encouraged to save for their retirement in the new pension policy structure in Britain. The issue of under-saving among the younger adults has been studied with the focus on internal characteristics, such as undesirable attitudinal or behavioural tendencies (‘won't save’), or on external factors, such as income (‘can't save’). Building on these discussions, this study tests the role of internal characteristics and further examines the interplay between internal and external factors. The decision-making process for retirement saving is mapped based on the Model of Financial Planning with minor modifications. The analysis utilises the fourth wave of the Wealth and Assets Survey (2012/2014), and is conducted in the structural equation modelling framework. Results show that younger adults’ discretionary retirement saving is an outcome of a complex interplay between internal and external factors. Financial resilience, which indicates current financial behaviours and wellbeing, is found to be the strongest predictor for identifying a discretionary retirement saver, but it is closely connected to individuals’ income and home-ownership. The findings also suggest that social and economic arrangements are important to consider as social ageing, individuals’ projection on their lifestages, may be more informative than age per se for understanding younger adults’ retirement saving behaviour. These findings have important implications for the policies that aim to increase retirement saving participation.