Residential Mobility and Housing Consumption Adjustment: Case in Seoul, Korea.

Households in the Seoul Metropolitan Area have changed residences frequently in the recent past. The basic intent of this research is to underst and the fundamental questions of residential mobility: who moves, how often, and why; what changes in housing consumption result from moves; and what precipitates moving (i.e., what the best predictor is). Related to the last question is whether or not such a move is motivated by housing speculation. Univariate and multivariate analyses find that: (1) renters move significantly more frequently than homeowners; (2) middle income households in both tenures are more mobile than other groups of their respective tenure; (3) a substantial housing improvement is made with frequent moves; and (4) the level of housing satisfaction is inversely related to residential mobility. The least satisfied are middle income renters, closely followed by middle income homeowners. A microeconomic analysis has been performed to remedy problems inherent in the multivariate approach, including measurement and difficulties incorporating the concept of utility and costs and benefits of moving. Both a basic and a revised disequilibrium consumption hypothesis have been tested, the latter being one that tests the effect of housing speculation on moving. Both actual amounts of housing consumption and those of the equilibrium housing dem and are estimated to compute the disequilibrium amount of housing for each observed period. The findings generally support the underlying theory that an increase in the equilibrium housing dem and facilitates an incentive to move. The speculation hypothesis is valid in a time of rapid inflation, but its impact is minor, compared with that of disequilibrium dem and for housing. There is a strong evidence of a significant improvement in housing quality over the recent past. Concurrently, however, the housing gap persists among groups of different income and tenure, which suggests that future housing policy must be directed to a more equitable distribution of housing resources. Whatever form such a policy may entail, it will be the one which encourages residential mobility, and which also does away with some of the rigid anti-speculation measures (e.g., a special gains tax on short-term holding).PhDUrban planningUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161551/1/8720290.pd