Linking migration and mobility: Individual and contextual effects in housing markets in the UK

Most migration work continues to separate long- and short-distance moves and their outcomes, but clearly, they are part of a complex process of relocation across different scales. While we know that long-distance moves are largely driven by labour market differences and moves at the local scale are the way in which households translate those long-distance moves into residential satisfaction in local housing markets, we know very little about the link between the two processes and their likelihoods. Some studies have suggested that long-distance moves are followed by local adjustment moves at an early point after the relocation. This paper evaluates those empirical findings in the context of the British housing market. It takes up a number of previously unexamined issues related to these linkages and to the timing of the links between the two moves. We show that the classic notion of a long-distance move followed by a short-distance adjustment move is far from the common experience. Additionally, we show that adjustment is only one of many outcomes of long- and short-distance relocations. Overall, repeat movers seem to account for much of the movement after long- and short-distance moves. Also clear is the finding that migration and mobility are absolutely embedded in the complex of life-course decisions.