Determinants of Residential Mobility Decisions The Role of Government Services in Relation to Other Factors

Abstract This article is one of the first to test for the relative importance of concerns about public services in affecting residential mobility decisions over and beyond normal mobility factors. A secondary aim is to test for the validity of a residential mobility model formulated by Speare and associates. Multiple regression analysis was employed using 1974 to 1977 data from the longitudinal version of the Annual Housing Survey. Concerns about public services did not play a meaningful role in the analysis. This implies that efforts to hold middle income residents in declining neighborhoods, through improved services, will not succeed. The results supported the Speare mobility model; housing satisfaction acted as an intermediary variable between background characteristics and mobility behavior.