THE DETERMINANTS OF REVERSE MORTGAGE CHOICE OF INDIAN ELDERLY HOMEOWNERS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD: A LOGIT ANALYSIS

Abstract

Purpose: In the regime of stretched old-age social security, federals and policymakers are presuming housing wealth as a means of sustainable livelihood for elderly homeowners.  The current study attempts to discover which demographic and financial factors are significant determinants of home equity liquidation through reverse mortgage of Indians in later life. Methodology: Binary logistic regression is applied to survey-based primary data of 410 elderly homeowners through SPSS software. Main Findings: Results of binary logistic regression model depicts that elderly considering an RM likely to be female, older, having poor health, childless or having girl child only, long life expectancy, resident of metro, employed, cash-constrained, not having any kind of insurance cover and those children are financially well are significantly more willing to opt for RM scheme. Implication: Study renders implications for Government and NHB, to provide refinancing facility to commercial banks so that home equity liquidation product like Reverse Mortgage can be able to fulfill income needs of greying India. Novelty/Originality: Length of research in European and western countries have been carried out to explore the attitude of older homeowner for housing wealth liquidation but Indian context, is largely untapped that how Indian older homeowner perceive their housing wealth and which factor influences them to delete it. In this way, current study attempts to bridge the research gap.