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Housing and location choices of retiring households: Evidence from France

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  • Laurent Gobillon

    (PJSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • François-Charles Wolff

    (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - IEMN-IAE Nantes - Institut d'Économie et de Management de Nantes - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - UN - Université de Nantes)

Abstract

In this paper, we study the mobility and housing choices of the elderly when retiring using household data collected in France. From a theoretical viewpoint, retirees are likely to decrease their housing quantity because of an income loss when retiring, but they may also increase it to benefit from more housing comfort for leisure. Using the 1992 Trois Générations survey, we first show that housing mobility at retirement is substantial in France, with a variety of self-reported motives. Then, using the 1994-2001 French Europanel survey, we find evidence of both upsizing and downsizing for mobile recent retirees. In many cases, housing adjustments lead to a correction of the initial disequilibrium between the number of rooms and the number of occupants. However, a significant proportion of mobile recent retirees improve the quality of their dwelling.

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  • Laurent Gobillon & François-Charles Wolff, 2009. "Housing and location choices of retiring households: Evidence from France," Working Papers hal-00424096, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00424096
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00424096
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Julie Byles & Cassie Curryer & Kha Vo & Peta Forder & Deborah Loxton & Deirdre McLaughlin, 2018. "Changes in housing among older women: Latent class analysis of housing patterns in older Australian women," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(4), pages 917-934, March.
    3. Mingxing Chen & Wenzhong Zhang & Dadao Lu, 2015. "Examining spatial pattern and location choice of affordable housing in Beijing, China: Developing a workable assessment framework," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(10), pages 1846-1863, August.
    4. Zahia Ouadah-Bedidi, 2012. "Fécondité et nuptialité différentielles en Algérie : l'apport du recensement de 1998," Working Papers 185, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED).
    5. Laurent Gobillon & François-Charles Wolff, 2009. "Housing and location choices of retiring households: Evidence from France," PSE Working Papers hal-00424096, HAL.
    6. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Mitrou, Francis & Zubrick, Stephen R., 2024. "Retirement, housing mobility, downsizing and neighbourhood quality - A causal investigation," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    7. Alexandra Schaffar & Michel Dimou & El Mouhoub Mouhoud, 2019. "The determinants of elderly migration in France," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(2), pages 951-972, April.
    8. Guillaume Allegre & Guillaume Dollé, 2013. "Le logement des jeunes et des nouvelles générations, 1978-2006," Post-Print hal-03460860, HAL.
    9. Benoît Schmutz & Modibo Sidibé, 2019. "Frictional Labour Mobility," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(4), pages 1779-1826.
    10. Benoit Schmutz & Modibo Sidibé, 2014. "Job Search and Migration in a System of Cities," Working Papers 2014-43, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    11. Brice BAROIS, 2020. "Le rôle attractif des industries créatives et culturelles dans la localisation des jeunes en France," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 51, pages 45-64.
    12. Hossein Estiri & Andy Krause, 2018. "A Cohort Location Model of household sorting in US metropolitan regions," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(1), pages 71-90, January.
    13. Hassink, Wolter & Zweerink, Jochem, 2021. "Housing careers and the Great Recession," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    14. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7o52iohb7k6srk09mgo4gi8k1 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Bonnet, Carole & Gobillon, Laurent & Laferrère, Anne, 2010. "The effect of widowhood on housing and location choices," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 94-108, June.

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