What affects children’s outcomes: house characteristics or homeownership?

We study the impact of housing conditions on the educational outcomes of young persons in Switzerland. We focus on children aged 15–19, who are potentially enrolled in or graduates of high school or vocational training programs, and young adults aged 20–24, who are potentially students in or graduates of university or other tertiary institutions. Housing conditions are characterized in three ways: whether the parents rent or own the dwelling, the type of dwelling (house or apartment), and a measure of crowding (occupants per room). We find that the density of residents in the dwelling is the only influential housing characteristic. Crowding directly affects the outcomes of children aged 15–19 and presumably indirectly affects the outcomes of young adults given that admission to university study requires completion of high school. None of the other housing characteristics affects children’s outcomes. In particular, homeownership is not statistically significant in any of our estimations.