We use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the Office of Housing
Enterprise Oversight to measure the effect of changes in housing wealth on retirement
timing. Using cross-MSA variation in house-price movements to identify wealth effects on
retirement timing, we find evidence that such wealth effects are present. According to some
specifications the rate of transition into retirement increases in the presence of positive
housing wealth shocks. In addition, we use data on expected age of retirement to measure …

Labor-supply effects of changes in house value are potentially important but empirically
neglected. Using the panel Health and Retirement Study merged to local house prices from
the Federal Housing Finance Agency, we estimate the effect of house-price changes on
actual and planned retirement timing. While we find no effect of house-price changes on the
annual probability of retiring, we find that people respond to rising house prices by revising
down their expected retirement age. We estimate that a 10% real increase in house value …