ABSTRACT
Countries vary widely in their housing systems and in the ways in which they subsidise or give tax concessions to their housing. These differences affect the distribution of living standards within each country, as the benefits in kind which people derive from housing (‘housing income’) are unlikely to be distributed in proportion to other forms of income. They also affect comparisons of income distribution between countries. Because most comparisons are made between cash incomes, excluding some or all forms of housing income, problems will arise if, for instance, those with high incomes are more likely to be owner-occupiers (with significant imputed rents contributing to their standard of living) than those with low incomes, or conversely if those with low incomes are more likely to occupy subsidised social housing, where gross rents are below those which would be charged in the market.
