Residential Mobility and Local Housing Market Differences

This paper extends previous literature on variations in mobility rates across local housing markets by examining the linkage of mobility rates at the household level to the structure of local housing markets. The results indicate that residential mobility rates differ widely across local housing markets, substantiating the view that residential relocation is intimately intertwined with conditions at the local level. Local housing market conditions also have different effects on mobility rates for renters and owner-occupiers. The results show that variation in residential mobility rates across housing markets can be partly explained by level of urbanization, the tenure structure, the degree of government intervention, and the size of the housing market. Remarkably, these differences in local housing markets cannot be seen to be related to housing market features only. The results suggest that differences can also be attributed to the behavior or attitude of households with respect to housing.