Moving Near Family? The Influence of Extended Family on Neighbourhood Choice in an Intra‐urban Context

ABSTRACT Social ties are among the most important factors explaining destination choices on the international or national scale but much less is known about their role in short‐distance mobility. In this paper, I analyse how the presence of extended family in a neighbourhood affects destination choices on a local housing market – the city of Uppsala, Sweden. I employ a probit model to investigate who is more likely to move to neighbourhoods where extended family members reside, followed by a conditional logit model that tests the importance of the presence of family in relation to other neighbourhood characteristics. Results show that the presence of family is indeed a strong determinant for neighbourhood choice and that non‐Western immigrants, middle‐aged adults, individuals with low socio‐economic status, and individuals who have previously resided in the neighbourhood are most likely to move near family. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.