Binomial Random Parameters Logistic Regression Model of Housing Satisfaction

Lifecycle events strongly influence the long term dynamics of activity-travel behavior. Moving house, as an example of a lifecycle event, triggers households to reconsider their activity-travel choices and possibly to adapt to the new house-job relationship. In turn, the decision to move house is a function of housing satisfaction, which depends on factors such as socio-demographic and economic characteristics of individuals, physical aspects of the dwellings, accessibility to different places in the city, etc. The main goal of this paper, which has been written as part of a project about residential mobility in Rotterdam, a metropolitan area in the Netherlands, is to understand some determinants of housing satisfaction. The model results represent the odds that a respondent with a particular profile is satisfied with his/her current housing situation. Differences in these odds are found to be associated with individuals’ profiles and housing characteristics. In general, these differences can be explained by household needs, constraints or preferences, which are strongly related to lifecycle phase. Satisfaction is found to decrease with increasing levels of urbanization, indicating that housing satisfaction is influenced by negative externalities such as pollution, congestion, noise, etc. Higher contact frequency with relatives, friends and club activities, has a positive effect on housing satisfaction. Finally, distance to work was found not significantly related to housing satisfaction.