Individual differences in the neighbourhood level determinants of residential satisfaction

Abstract

Residential satisfaction is a key variable in understanding residential mobility. Many researchers have studied the individual level and neighbourhood level determinants of satisfaction, however, very few have studied which neighbourhood characteristics affect satisfaction for whom. In this paper, ordered logit models are estimated, explaining satisfaction from neighbourhood characteristics, personal characteristics and interactions. These interactions test whether neighbourhood characteristics have similar effects on satisfaction for all individuals, or whether individual characteristics affect the size and direction of these effects. Satisfaction is found to be less affected by the share of ethnic minorities for ethnic minorities than for natives, because minorities are more satisfied in neighbourhoods with higher shares of their own ethnic group. Neighbourhood characteristics are found to have a stronger effect on satisfaction for owner-occupiers and parents with children than for others, however the impact of neighbourhood ethnic composition does not vary with tenure or household type.