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Adjusting Housing Consumption: Improve or Move

Author

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  • N.H. Seek

    (Urban Research Unit, Australian National University and is currently an assistant director in the Housing Branch, Department of the Capital Territory, Canberra, Australia)

Abstract

Home improvement is becoming more important as a supplier of housing in Australia. This paper examines how and why home improving decisions are made and briefly discusses some equity questions about the upsurge in home improvement activity. Additions and alterations to dwellings are undertaken largely to meet demands for more and better housing rather than to make good features of the dwelling which have become defective as a result of ageing and wear and tear. Mainly because of the high financial and psychological costs of moving, many homeowners tend to stay in the same house for a long time and modify it as their housing demands change over their life cycle. With upwardly mobile households not moving from their existing dwellings and the values of these dwellings being increased through home improvement, the lower income households are likely to be more disadvantaged.

Suggested Citation

  • N.H. Seek, 1983. "Adjusting Housing Consumption: Improve or Move," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 20(4), pages 455-469, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:20:y:1983:i:4:p:455-469
    DOI: 10.1080/00420988320080811
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John P. Shelton, 1968. "The Cost of Renting versus Owning a Home," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(1), pages 59-72.
    2. Mendelsohn, Robert, 1977. "Empirical evidence on home improvements," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 459-468, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sander van Veldhuizen & Benedikt Vogt & Bart Voogt, 2016. "Negative Home Equity and Household Mobility: Evidence from Administrative Data," CPB Discussion Paper 323, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    2. Ishikawa, Noriko & Fukushige, Mototsugu, 2010. "Households' attitudes toward earthquake protection: An empirical analysis of the impact of fiscal support in Japan," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 51-65, March.
    3. Peter E. Earl & Ti-Ching Peng, 2011. "Home Improvements," Chapters, in: Samuel Cameron (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Leisure, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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