Information Barriers and Housing Tenure Choice: Does Local Knowledge Matter?

This paper examines how local knowledge about migration destinations affects housing tenure decisions for movers in the US, particularly long-distance movers–those who have moved more than 50 miles–while considering other channels of information. Using data from the American Community Survey from 2012 to 2019, we find that among long-distance movers, geographic distance seems to lower the likelihood of owning their next home, while social connectedness can mitigate this effect considerably. This result is robust across different empirical specifications. Our analysis also shows that these channels of information may have significantly different implications for short-distance movers’ housing tenure choices compared to long-distance movers.