Incomes Of Retirement Age And Working Age Canadians

This paper estimates the implicit income generated by the home equity of working-age and retirement-age households. This is a potentially important source of income in retirement, given the substantial investment that Canadians make in their own homes. It is this accumulation of equity by many Canadians that helps to pay for the shelter (or housing services) consumed by homeowners. Therefore, the implicit returns from home ownership, while not a normal line-item in the family budget, pay for a necessary service that would have to be provided by other means. This paper focuses on the contribution of home equity to the provision of housing services that would otherwise have to be purchased out of retirement income.--Document.