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Should I stay or should I go? Housing preferences upon retirement in Germany

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Abstract

The current debate on demographic change often revolves around seniors (over 65 years old), their housing preferences, and their spatial mobility. Our study asked future retirees between age 50 and 60 whether they intend to keep their current residence or whether they are considering moving to some other place upon retirement. The study applied a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods. It was conducted in nine German cities with different spatial structural characteristics. This research contributes to current research as the prospective perspective of potential movers, movers, and non-movers pays close attention as well as the reasons for planning and not planning to move. The analysis of the vast amount of data (140 qualitative interviews and 5500 questionnaires) shows extraordinarily high satisfaction with residents’ current housing situation. The results reflect a high attachment with the place of residence and the surrounding neighborhood. The partly high rates of home ownership give reason to expect continuously high levels of remaining in place among future senior citizens. The few potentially mobile ones intend to either move within the region or use their second residences more frequently so that they are likely to live in multiple locations in the future “Aging in place” therefore proves to be the main preference among future seniors in Germany.

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Notes

  1. One reason for choosing these cohorts lies in the fact that the initial empirical study was launched in 2005 in Munich and included respondents who were 51–60 years old at the time (birth cohorts 1945–1954). In the course of the study, we continued to focus on the same age cohorts to maintain comparability. This resulted in shifting the years of birth (of the cohorts considered) up to three years in the later stages of our research. By selecting this age group, which had not yet retired at the time of the survey, and focusing on their plans for the time immediately after retirement, we have been able to link the observations made to the specific age group in question more precisely than is usually possible in studies on migration and housing preferences of the retirees (see Sander et al. 2010, p. 10f).

  2. Studies in USA (Bradley et al. 2008) and Denmark (Hansen and Gottschalk 2006, p. 38) indicate that plans of moving can indeed be seen to predict future moves.

  3. One of the few exceptions are for instance Fina et al. (2009) on the Suburbia Crisis, Laux (2012) on the causes and challenges of demographic change in general, Friedrich and Warnes (2000) on migration patterns and Oswald et al. (2010) on aging in place.

  4. Consideration of values and lifestyles in the analysis led to results similar to Jansen (2012), which state that there are no clear relationships apparent between intentions to migrate and values.

  5. Most analyses distinguish between West and East Berlin because of the differences in the housing markets owed to the different housing policies of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.

  6. See the indicators and maps on urban and spatial development (INKAR, ed. by Bundesinstitut für Stadt-, Bau- und Raumforschung, 2012).

  7. A large number of studies are discussed in detail in Kramer and Pfaffenbach (2011).

  8. See the discussion in an earlier article (Kramer and Pfaffenbach 2009).

  9. It must be noted, however, that after district reorganization in Berlin, it is no longer possible to clearly associate data on purchasing power and other economic parameters at the district level with the former East and West Berlin Districts.

  10. When we speak of home ownership, we refer to any form of ownership of one’s residence, whether single family homes or condominiums, unless otherwise stated.

  11. Home ownership rates in Germany are fairly low (49 %) in comparison with the rest of Europe. The mean average for countries in the EU25 was about 70 % and reached 89 % in Spain and even 95 % in Poland (GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften in Mannheim 2014).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to the German Research Foundation (DFG) for project funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Reinhard-Baumeister-Platz 1, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Caroline Kramer

  2. Department of Geography, Cultural Geography, RWTH Aachen University, Templergraben 55, 52056, Aachen, Germany

    Carmella Pfaffenbach

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Kramer, C., Pfaffenbach, C. Should I stay or should I go? Housing preferences upon retirement in Germany. J Hous and the Built Environ 31, 239–256 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-015-9454-5

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