Dynamics of Housing Mobility in Australian Metropolitan Areas, 2001–2010: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

A lack of understanding of the dynamics of housing mobility and its difference across the major cities in Australia can have significant policy ramifications. In particular, a spatial mismatch in the demand and supply of higher density housing will arise if planning for resource allocations continues to be based on urban density targets without a complete understanding of the dynamics of housing mobility patterns. Therefore through the application of a unique 3-fold longitudinal study this paper examines the housing mobility patterns over time by measuring changes in housing characteristics of housing tenure, dwelling type and location using the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA). It was found that the most typical transition to a higher dwelling density in Australia is from a detached house to multi-storeyed units under 3 storeys. Downsizing moves for retirees are most frequent and a decrease in household income is closely related to downsizing. Also notable is the significantly higher level of downsizing moves found in Melbourne when compared to other cities over the past decade.

对于住房迁移动态及澳大利亚几大城市在这方面的差异缺乏了解，可能会对政策产生重要影响。如果资源配置规划继续以城市高密集度为目标，却不能充分了解住房迁移的动态模式，高密集度住房的供求就会产生空间错位。本文利用一项独特的三重纵向研究，使用澳大利亚住房、收入和劳动力动态（HILDA）的数据，探索住房租期、居住类型和地点的变化，以便发现长期的住房迁移模式。研究发现澳大利亚向较高居住密度转变的典型模式，是从独栋住房变为三层以下多层住房。退休人员从大房搬到小房最为常见，家庭收入的降低与住房面积减小有密切关联。在过去几十年中，墨尔本市住房面积缩小的速度与其他城市相比，格外显著。

Keywords:

• Urban consolidation
• longitudinal analysis
• housing choices
• housing career
• residential mobility
• HILDA

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments on this paper. These comments are very helpful to provide some meaningful findings in this study.

Funding

This work was supported by Kyonggi University Research [grant number 2013].

Notes

1. Clark and Dieleman (1996) defined an upward move as a move up the hierarchy of dwelling types (i.e. rent to own) and a downward move is down the hierarchy (i.e. own to rent).

2. The density classification was made based on the Grattan institute report (Kelly et al., 2011). People living in caravans & others were not included in the four categories.

3. The temporary mobility refers to any form of territorial movement which does not represent a permanent, or lasting, change of usual residence (Bell & Ward, 2000).