Factors Affecting Residential Mobility among Households in Penang, Malaysia

Abstract

Residential mobility is associated with the human life cycle such as personal and family attributes as well as the residents’ housing profiles such as homeownership and housing type. This study aims to establish the mobility intention among households of different socioeconomic status (SES) by examining factors pertaining to their life cycle course and housing profiles. Based on the stated preference design approach, data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 685 households living in selected low cost, medium cost and high cost housing schemes in Penang, Malaysia. Using logistic regression method, the study found that age, occupation, renters, and housing type are the factors that affect residential mobility intentions among the households. However, the constraints of high costs of housing purchase, housing rent and moving costs have somewhat restrained the households’ mobility intentions.