Owning a Home or Two: An Analysis of the Financial and Behavioural Determinants of Single versus Multiple Property Ownership in the U.S. Pre- and Post-COVID

[i] Note. Weighted results from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (N = 5,777) and 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (N = 4,595). Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

Table 2.

Weighted Descriptive Statistics of Key Variables 2019 and 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances

Variable	2019 Weighted Data		2022 Weighted Data
Variable	%	M(SD)	%	M(SD)
Spending More than Income
Yes	5		5
No	95		95
Relocation Probability
Moving for sure	9		9
High chance of moving	5		5
Medium chance	15		13
Low chance	18		19
Not moving for sure	54		54
Risk Tolerance
Low	27		29
Medium	51		50
High	22		21
Financial Confidence		7.13(2.22)		7.24(2.21)
Non-Res. Debt		21,462(110,663)		24,573(140,588)
Income		106,251(458,987)		141,390(727,962)
Financial Literacy
Very Low	4		3
Low	19		16
Medium	34		37
High	43		44
Gender
Male	50		49
Female	50		51
Race
White non-Hispanic	65		67
Black African American	14		12
Hispanic or Latino	10		9
Other	11		12
Age		51(17.4)		52(17.59)
Marital Status
Married	46		47
Partner	10		10
Single Female	26		26
Single Male	18		16
Education
Less than High School	11		9
High School	24		24
Some College or Assoc.	28		27
Bachelor’s or higher	36		40
# of Kids in the family
No kids	61		61
1 Kid	17		18
2 Kids	13		13
3 or more	8		7
Income Volatility
Low	14		17
Normal	77		72
High	10		11

[i] Note. Weighted results from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (N = 5,777) and 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (N = 4,595). Means are reported with standard deviations in parentheses. Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

Table 3.

Multinomial Logistic Regression of Property Ownership 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances.

Variable	None (Base) Versus One				One (Base) Versus Multiple				None (Base) Versus Multiple
Variable	Coef.	S.E.	p	RRR	Coef.	S.E.	p	RRR	Coef.	S.E.	p	RRR
Predictors
Spending (Yes)
No	0.36	0.27	0.001	1.43	0.53	.05	0.002	1.7	0.89	0.04	<0.001	2.44
Moving (100%)
High	0.81	0.02	<0.001	2.25	−0.66	.02	<0.001	0.52	0.15	0.03	0.015	1.16
Medium	1.01	0.02	<0.001	2.75	−0.19	0.03	0.008	0.83	0.82	0.02	<0.001	2.27
Low	1.42	0.01	<0.001	4.17	−0.6	0.03	<0.001	0.55	0.82	0.02	<0.001	2.27
100% Staying	2.55	0.01	<0.001	12.94	−0.5	0.02	<0.001	0.61	2.05	0.00	<0.001	7.77
Risk Tol (Low)
Medium	0.19	0.00	0.001	1.21	0.28	0.01	<0.001	1.32	0.47	0.01	<0.001	1.60
High	0.09	0.00	<0.001	1.09	0.37	0.00	<0.001	1.45	0.46	0.00	<0.001	1.58
Fin.Confidence	0.06	0.00	<0.001	1.06	0.02	0.00	<0.001	1.02	0.08	0.00	<0.001	1.08
Log NH Debt	0.04	0.00	<0.001	1.04	−0.02	0.00	0.001	0.98	0.02	0.00	0.001	1.02
Log of Income	0.37	0.00	<0.001	1.45	0.62	0.02	<0.001	1.86	0.99	0.02	<0.001	2.69
Fin.Literacy (Very Low)
Low	−0.08	0.01	0.003	0.92	0.72	0.01	<0.001	2.05	0.64	0.01	<0.001	1.90
Medium	0.02	0.01	0.130	1.02	0.83	0.00	<0.001	2.29	0.85	0.01	<0.001	2.34
High	0.20	0.00	<0.001	1.22	0.91	0.01	<0.001	2.48	1.11	0.02	<0.001	3.03
Controls
Education (<High Sc)
High School	0.29	0.01	<0.001	1.34	−0.27	0.02	<0.001	0.76	0.02	0.01	0.195	1.02
Some College	0.29	0.00	<0.001	1.34	−0.28	0.01	<0.001	0.76	0.005	0.01	0.656	1.01
Bachelor’s	0.56	0.00	<0.001	1.75	−0.19	0.02	0.002	0.83	0.38	0.02	<0.001	1.46
Gender (Male)
Female	−0.13	0.00	<0.001	0.88	0.16	0.01	<0.001	1.17	0.03	0.01	0.092	1.03
Race (White)
Black	−0.79	0.00	<0.001	0.45	−0.03	0.02	0.260	0.97	−0.82	0.02	<0.001	0.44
Hispanic	−0.76	0.01	<0.001	0.47	0.28	0.01	<0.001	1.32	−0.48	0.01	<0.001	0.62
Other	−0.81	0.01	<0.001	0.44	0.18	0.01	0.002	1.2	−0.63	0.02	<0.001	0.53
Age	0.04	0.00	<0.001	1.04	0.02	0.00	<0.001	1.02	0.06	0.00	<0.001	1.06
Marital Status (Married)
Partner	−0.72	0.00	<0.001	0.49	−0.27	0.02	0.001	0.76	−0.99	0.18	<0.001	0.37
Single Female	−0.86	0.00	<0.001	0.42	−0.54	0.01	<0.001	0.58	−1.39	0.15	<0.001	0.25
Single Male	−0.95	0.00	<0.001	0.39	−0.13	0.01	<0.001	0.88	−1.08	0.15	<0.001	0.34
Number of Kids (0)
1 kid	0.51	0.00	<0.001	1.67	−0.16	0.01	<0.001	0.85	0.35	0.01	<0.001	1.42
2 kids	0.41	0.00	<0.001	1.51	−0.13	0.00	<0.001	0.88	0.28	0.01	<0.001	1.32
3 or more	0.27	0.00	<0.001	1.31	−0.1	0.01	0.002	0.9	0.17	0.01	<0.001	1.19
Income Vol (Low)
Normal	−0.02	0.01	0.166	0.98	−0.17	0.01	<0.001	0.84	−0.18	0.01	<0.001	0.84
High	−0.19	0.01	0.001	0.83	0.02	0.02	0.271	1.02	−0.16	0.02	0.002	0.85
Intercept	−7.94	0.02	<0.001	−	−10.4	0.25	<0.001	−	−18.3	0.26	<0.001	-
Model Fit
F 58, 175.9
p < .001

[i] Note. Results are weighted using all five implicates and the Repeated Imputation Inference (RII) technique. Relative risk ratios (RRRs) greater than 1 indicate a higher relative risk of the outcome relative to the reference category, whereas RRRs less than 1 indicate a lower relative risk.

Table 4.

Multinomial Logistic Regression of Property Ownership 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances.

Variable	None (Base) Versus One				One (Base) Versus Multiple				None (Base) Versus Multiple
Variable	Coef.	S.E.	p	RRR	Coef.	S.E.	p	RRR	Coef.	S.E.	p	RRR
Predictors
Spending (Yes)
No	0.35	0.02	0.001	1.41	0.44	0.03	0.001	1.55	0.79	0.04	<0.001	2.20
Moving (100%)
High	0.06	0.02	0.06	1.06	0.49	0.11	0.021	1.62	0.55	0.11	0.017	1.73
Medium	0.69	0.03	<0.001	2.00	0.37	0.17	0.117	1.42	1.06	0.15	0.006	2.85
Low	1.52	0.01	<0.001	4.56	0.23	0.13	0.175	1.25	1.75	0.13	0.001	5.69
100% Staying	2.2	0.01	<0.001	8.97	0.21	0.14	0.236	1.22	2.4	0.13	<0.001	10.92
Risk Tol (Low)
Medium	0.43	0.003	<0.001	1.54	0.12	0.01	0.003	1.13	0.55	0.02	<0.001	1.74
High	0.43	0.01	<0.001	1.54	0.39	0.02	<0.001	1.48	0.82	0.03	<0.001	2.27
Fin.Confidence	0.05	0.003	0.001	1.05	0.07	0.01	0.006	1.07	0.11	0.01	0.001	1.12
Log NH Debt	0.003	0.001	0.163	1	−0.01	0.003	0.061	0.99	−0.01	0.004	0.197	0.99
Log of Income	0.2	0.01	<0.001	1.22	0.54	0.01	<0.001	1.73	0.74	0.02	<0.001	2.1
Fin.Literacy (Very Low)
Low	0.21	0.02	0.001	1.24	0.5	0.04	0.001	1.64	0.71	0.05	0.001	2.04
Medium	0.58	0.02	<0.001	1.8	0.67	0.02	<0.001	1.95	1.25	0.02	<0.001	3.51
High	0.92	0.02	<0.001	2.51	0.78	0.03	<0.001	2.17	1.69	0.03	<0.001	5.45
Controls
Education (<High Sc)
High School	0.24	0.02	<0.001	1.27	0.39	0.04	<0.001	1.47	0.63	0.04	<0.001	1.87
Some College	0.28	0.03	<0.001	1.32	0.46	0.03	0.002	1.58	0.75	0.03	<0.001	2.09
Bachelor’s	0.42	0.03	<0.001	1.52	0.47	0.01	0.385	1.6	0.89	0.01	<0.001	2.42
Gender (Male)
Female	0.09	0.01	0.008	1.09	0.23	0.03	0.003	1.26	0.32	0.01	0.092	1.38
Race (White)
Black	−0.68	0.04	0.001	0.51	0.11	0.02	0.014	1.11	−0.57	0.04	0.001	0.56
Hispanic	−0.56	0.02	<0.001	0.57	−0.07	0.08	0.471	0.94	−0.63	0.07	0.003	0.54
Other	−0.36	0.02	0.001	0.7	0.15	0.03	0.019	1.16	−0.22	0.03	0.008	0.81
Age	0.03	0	<0.001	1.03	0.03	0	0.002	1.03	0.06	0.001	<0.001	1.07
Marital Status (Married)
Partner	−0.75	0.01	<0.001	0.47	0.17	0.01	<0.001	1.18	−0.58	0.02	<0.001	0.56
Single Female	−1.13	0.003	<0.001	0.32	−0.29	0.03	0.002	0.75	−1.42	0.03	<0.001	0.24
Single Male	−1.12	0.02	<0.001	0.33	−0.03	0.01	0.385	0.97	−1.15	0.03	<0.001	0.32
Number of Kids (0)
1 kid	0.51	0.01	<0.001	1.66	−0.01	0.01	0.396	0.98	0.5	0.02	<0.001	1.63
2 kids	0.7	0.01	<0.001	2.01	−0.21	0.02	0.002	0.81	0.49	0.02	<0.001	1.62
3 or more	0.36	0.01	<0.001	1.43	0.23	0.02	0.002	1.27	0.59	0.02	<0.001	1.81
Income Vol (Low)
Normal	0.19	0.02	0.002	1.21	−0.35	0.01	<0.001	0.71	−0.16	0.01	<0.001	0.86
High	−0.06	0.02	0.085	0.94	−0.26	0.03	0.002	0.77	−0.32	0.01	<0.001	0.72
Intercept	−6.4	0.08	<0.001	−	−11.46	0.14	<0.001	−	−17.86	0.15	<0.001	-
Model Fit
F 58, 174.4
p < .001

[i] Note. Results are weighted using all five implicates and the Repeated Imputation Inference (RII) technique. Relative risk ratios (RRR) greater than 1 indicate a higher relative risk of the outcome relative to the reference category, whereas RRRs less than 1 indicate lower relative risk.

References

Authors

Metrics

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fprj-2026-0003 | Journal eISSN: 2206-1355 | Journal ISSN: 2206-1347

Journal RSS Feed

Language: English

Published on: Feb 18, 2026

Published by: Financial Advice Association of Australia

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 2 issues per year

Keywords:

Financial literacy,

multiple property ownership,

financial confidence

Related subjects:

Business and economics,

Political economics,

Economic theory, systems and structures,

Business management,

Business management, other,

Industries,

Banks, financial service provider, insurers

© 2026 Efthymia Antonoudi, Ashlyn Rollins-Koons, HanNa Lim, Stuart Heckman, published by Financial Advice Association of Australia
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 12 (2026): Issue 1 (January 2026)