An overcrowded apartment or house may increase the chances a couple breaks-up because of stress pressuring the relationship. Dr. Maike van Damme, a researcher at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), examines this point in her new paper: “Overcrowded Housing and Relationship Break-up”.

Although overcrowding and separation/ divorce do not correlate, owning a home versus renting does matter. Homeowners often feel less crowded and break-up less often than renters.

Dr. van Damme analysed statistics from the long-range survey Luxembourgish PSELL 2003-2014. She factored how Luxembourgish, Portuguese and local residents of other nationalities judged their living space. Other variables were (among others): income, financial stress, and dependent children in the household.

“Spousal joint investments like home ownership can be a barrier to break-up,” concludes Dr. van Damme. “This may be especially true for couples that are in a `stormy relationship.' To concretely examine this mechanism, new data on relationship quality and commitments of couples are required to further investigate the association between homeownership and relationship break-ups.”