Tenure choice in the housing market: Psychological versus economic factors

The author conducted a survey to examine psychological and economic fac-tors affecting the homeownership–tenancy choice. Among the many results, the author found disturbing evidence according to which there exists a fun-damental flawed reasoning in the common judgment of the financial superi-ority of ownership over tenancy. Most important, however, the author finds that although psychological and economic factors involved in the tenure deci-sion are highly correlated, the psychological factors are found to be more sta-tistically significant in explaining the realized tenure mode. This, in turn, may suggest that psychological effects might act as the underlying forces for determining the apparent economic tenure decision