Abstract
There are at least three important reasons for discussing the relations between home ownership and broader welfare systems with a focus on Mediterranean countries.1 The first is that comparative welfare research has to a large extent ignored the housing domain, notwithstanding its importance both in classical thought on the welfare state and in real life, housing being a matter of great economic and social concern at both family and policy levels. Housing intersects in various ways with other dimensions of welfare and is particularly salient in conceptualizing the distinction between South European and Continental welfare regimes. In understanding welfare systems as a whole, home ownership and its place in the welfare mix marks an important boundary between Mediterranean and Continental European contexts. There are indeed significant differences between the two clusters of countries in home ownership rates, in the availability of affordable and secure alternatives in the rental sector and in the relative importance of the role played by the family in sustaining entry into owner-occupation. The implications of these differences are not restricted to the housing domain but are likely to inform the entire welfare system.