Did Housing Policy Reforms Curb the Delay in Marriage Among Young Men in Egypt?
26 Nov 2008, Ragui Assaad and Mohamed Ramadan Download (PDF, 1.15 MB) A series of reforms in Egypt has reduced barriers to young people entering the rental housing market by liberalizing restrictive rent controls, allowing for definite duration contracts, and reducing the need for young home seekers to provide large capital outlays, or “advance rent,” in order to obtain initial housing. This has led to a reversal in delayed marriage among young men, beginning with those born after 1972. For example, among urban men the average age of marriage dropped from a peak of 29 years for those born in 1972 to 27 years for those after 1972. A one-year drop in the median age of marriage translates into an additional 230,000 25-29-year-old men able to marry, or 16% of those married in that age range. The onset of the decline in male age of marriage is consistent with the time at which the far-reaching housing reforms of 1996 would have begun to affect the supply of rental housing. Recently, Middle
