Main factors associated with homeowners' intentions to move

Abstract

Individuals make mobility decisions based on many factors. Satisfaction with neighbourhoods and homes has been identified in previous research, as have changing demographic characteristics. This paper extends earlier studies to identify the main factors behind the intentions to move for non-moving homeowners versus those who subsequently moved using data from a survey conducted for Franklin County homeowners in Ohio in the US, through factor analysis and Ordered Logistic Regression (OLR) analysis. Non-movers, on the one hand, show strong intentions to move when they are relatively dissatisfied with their ‘neighbourhood’, ‘housing amenities’, ‘amount of housing space’, and ‘distance to preferred locations’. On the other hand, actual movers appeared to concentrate on more specific factors, such as housing size and distance to preferred locations rather than the environment of their current neighbourhood. Household life-cycle characteristics do not appear to affect either groups’ assessments of their likelihood of moving.

Keywords:

• residential mobility
• intention to move
• homeowner's satisfaction
• first suburb