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Understanding changing housing aspirations: a review of the evidence

This article, published in the Housing Studies Journal, reviews the literature on changing housing aspirations and expectations in contemporary housing systems. It argues that there is a conceptual and definitional gap in relation to the term ‘housing aspirations’, as distinct from expectations, preferences, choices and needs. The article sets out working definitions of these terms, before discussing the evidence on changing housing (and related) systems. Emerging research has begun to consider whether trends such as declining homeownership, affordability concerns and precarious labour systems across a range of countries are fundamentally changing individuals’ aspirations for the forms of housing they aim to access at different stages of their lives. Whilst much of the research into housing aspirations has been considered in terms of tenure, and homeownership in particular, this article suggests that research needs to move beyond tenure and choice frameworks, to consider the range of dimensions that shape aspirations, from the political economy and the State to socialization and individuals’ dispositions for housing.

Authors: Dr Jenny Preece, Professor John Flint, Professor David Robinson and Dr Kim McKee

Read the full article of the Housing Studies Journal website.

This article is the final output from the project, Understanding reconfigured aspirations, expectations and choice.

 

 
        

 

Date: April 1, 2019 9:00 am

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