1 Residential Preferences for Interregional Migration in Sweden: Demographic, Socio-economic and Geographical Determinants Thomas Niedomysl Institute for Housing and Urban Research Uppsala University, Sweden

2 Why study residential preferences? Gain a better understanding into the determinants of contemporary population redistribution (Findlay and Rogerson, 1993) Policymakers are increasingly using assumptions about preferences to to motivate investments Increasing competition for mobile capital and greater attention to population issues (e.g. Malecki, 2004; McCann, 2004; Wilson and Rees, 2003)

3 Aims: 1. To investigate which place attributes people would put a high value on if they were to migrate 2. To investigate differences between population subgroups (demographic, socio-economic and geographical differences)

4 Research design 1: Pre-study to attain revelant attributes

5 Research design 2: Main survey Sent to a national sample of 5000 persons, response rate 53 %. Representative sample with low internal dropout.

6 Results Total sample

7 Results: Demographic Determinants Female (Male = 0) Significant differences: ++ = p<0.01; +++ = p< = p<0.01; = p< Controlling for: Age, Children, Occupation, Income, Municipality type. No significant differences:

8 Results: Demographic Determinants Age (18-24 = 0) Significant differences: ++ = p<0.01; +++ = p< = p<0.01; = p< Controlling for: Sex, Children, Occupation, Income, Municipality type. No significant differences:

9 Results: Demographic Determinants CHILDREN (no children = 0) Significant differences: ++ = p<0.01; +++ = p< = p<0.01; = p< Controlling for: Sex, Age, Occupation, Income, Municipality type.

10 A final example: Housing construction in waterfront locations Debate whether the law should be changed to allow housing construction in such areas (Ds 2005:33) + Arguments that there is a great demand for such housing and that it will attract migrants (particularly to sparsely populated areas with lots of watercourses) - Arguments of negative environmental impact and that it will entail constraints for public access to beaches

11 A look at the overall results: Moving to a house with a waterview not particularly important (4.9) Scenic landscape valued much higher (7.8) What about house prices? Target group: year olds and the highly educated statistically significant

12 Thank you for listening! Questions or comments?