The ageing of European societies, the mounting pressure on pension systems, the rise of home ownership and the growth in house prices have sparked interest in housing equity release options and strategies. Much of the available literature approaches this topic through a financial lens, focusing on equity release schemes as a way to free up housing equity while remaining in the dwelling. However, there are also other ways in which housing wealth can be extracted, such as downsizing, moving to a rental dwelling or subletting part of the dwelling. There is very little recent international comparative insight into the perceptions and preferences of older home owners with regard to this matter. Which housing equity release strategy do they prefer and why? And to what extent is their decision to release housing equity influenced by the bequest motive? Based on focus group research in six European countries (Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands), this paper observes some general trends and identifies a number of country specific variations.

欧洲社会的老龄化，养老金体系的压力越来越大，住房拥有量的增加以及房价的上涨，引发了人们对住房股本释放选择和策略的兴趣。许多可用的文献都是通过财务角度探讨这一主题的，重点是股票发行计划，作为在保留房屋的同时释放住房股本的一种方式。但是，还有其他方法可以提取住房财富，例如缩小规模，转移到出租住宅或将一部分住宅转租。最近国际上对老年人房主在此问题上的看法和偏好的比较研究很少。他们更喜欢哪种住房资产释放策略，为什么？他们的遗赠动机在多大程度上决定了他们释放住房公平性的决定？基于对六个欧洲国家（德国，英国，爱尔兰，匈牙利，意大利和荷兰）的焦点小组研究，本文观察了一些总体趋势并确定了一些特定于国家的变化。