Age segregation and housing unaffordability : generational divides in housing opportunities and spatial polarisation in England and Wales
Abstract
Age is an important known driver of residential sorting, yet little is understood about how age segregation is affected by housing unaffordability. This relationship is particularly pertinent given trends of increasing housing inequalities and population ageing, in Europe and elsewhere. Using harmonised population data for small areas linked with local house price statistics and household incomes in England and Wales, this paper examines the scale of, and links between, residential age segregation and housing unaffordability. The results reveal a strong association between increasing housing unaffordability (for sales and rentals) and increasing residential age segregation (beyond other local characteristics). This association is particularly marked in urban and rich (least deprived) areas. This points to increasing spatial polarisation along the intersections of wealth and age: not only are the wealthiest parts of the country, where housing is particularly unaffordable, becoming increasingly demarcated socio-economically but also by age. This implies that age-related lifecourse processes are integral to the trends observed more broadly of increasing socio-spatial polarisation.
Citation
Sabater , A & Finney , N 2023 , ' Age segregation and housing unaffordability : generational divides in housing opportunities and spatial polarisation in England and Wales ' , Urban Studies , vol. 60 , no. 5 , pp. 941-961 . https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980221121088
Publication
Urban Studies
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0042-0980Type
Journal article
Description
Funding: This work was carried out with partial financial support from the Economic and Social Research Council through the ESRC Centre for Population Change under grant ES/R009139/1.Collections
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