Private Transfers, Borrowing Constraints, and Timing of Homeownership

The 1991 Italian Survey of Household Income and Wealth contains retrospective information on intergenerational transfers. This information is used to estimate the impact of transfers on the saving time required to purchase a house. It is found that transfers have a small impact on saving time and that after receiving a transfer households purchase considerably larger homes. The results have implications for the debate about the source of the relation between aggregate saving and growth.