Intentions to move and actual moving behaviour in the Netherlands

This study examines how anticipated triggers for moving and individual, household and regional characteristics hamper or stimulate actual moving behaviour of people who intend to move. It uses a longitudinal dataset from the Netherlands, in which survey data from the Housing Demand Survey 2002 are combined with register data from the Social Statistical Database. The study finds that people with a strong intention to move are almost four times as likely to move as people with a less strong intention to move. Homeowners are more likely to realise a strong intention to move than renters who want to move within the rental sector of the housing market. The probability of actually moving is particularly great for those wishing to move from owner-occupied to rented housing and those with more resources, whereas it is small for people whose search location is in the Randstad.