Title: Early Pension Withdrawal for Homeownership

Time: 11:00am 

Venue: Room 301, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building

Speaker(s): Prof. Pinjia He

Remark(s): 

Abstract

This research examines whether individuals should utilise their individual pension savings for
housing. The primary challenge is that such a policy could result in a liquidity shock, manifesting
as housing inflation, and potentially benefiting only early homebuyers (e.g. high-income earners) while reducing accessibility for others. The first part presents a numerical analysis calibrated to Australian data, motivated by recent
government proposals. This analysis identifies key factors influencing the outcomes on
accessibility and retirement financial security. The second part investigates the problem
analytically, modelling households’ purchases as a system of first-passage time with price
feedback from aggregate demand.

About the speaker

"Hamza is a senior lecturer in Actuarial Science at the University of Melbourne since August 2024.
His research interests include risk management and measurement, pricing, and dependence
modelling. He is interested in studying issues related to insurance and pension, as well as
reconciling consumer welfare and providers' financial sustainability or solvency.Hamza holds a
Bachelors degree in Mathematics from Universite Pierre et Marie Currie (Paris, France) and a
Masters degree in Actuarial Science from Universite Catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve,
Belgium). He completed a PhD in Actuarial Science at KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), and joined
Monash University in 2020 as a Lecturer."