Economic theories of residential location suggest that households tend to live in neighbourhoods with similar households. Yet in England we have seen increasing evidence of better off households moving to live in more deprived areas, especially since the financial crisis. Here we ask whether these household decisions are more a matter of choice or constraint. Our results suggest that household attributes are consistently important in decision making but household behaviour also relates closely both to the extent of market tension and to individual financial constraints—with households in pressured areas particularly affected by worsening affordability. Supply policy, which has tended to concentrate new building in deprived areas has helped facilitate such moves. A particularly important issue in a rapidly changing housing environment is the extent to which tenure and location appear often to be joint decisions—with many better-off households choosing to buy in more deprived areas. Those who move to or within more deprived areas as owner-occupiers are positive about both their housing and tenure choice but not about their location; private tenants on the other hand appear relatively unhappy with their dwelling, their neighbourhood and their tenure—in both cases reflecting trade-offs and constraints.

居住区位的经济理论表明，家庭往往居住在具有相似家庭的社区。然而，在英格兰，我们看到越来越多的证据表明，富裕家庭搬到生活更贫困的地区，尤其是自金融危机以来。在这里，我们询问这些家庭决定是否更多是选择或约束问题。我们的结果表明，家庭属性在决策过程中始终很重要，但家庭行为也与市场紧张程度和个人财务限制密切相关——压力地区的家庭尤其受到负担能力恶化的影响。供应政策倾向于将新建筑集中在贫困地区，这有助于促进此类行动。在瞬息万变的住房环境中，一个特别重要的问题是使用权和地点似乎往往是共同决定的——许多富裕家庭选择在更贫困的地区购买。那些作为自住业主搬到或居住在更贫困地区的人对他们的住房和保有权选择持积极态度，但对他们的位置并不乐观；另一方面，私人租户似乎对他们的住宅、社区和租期相对不满意——这两种情况都反映了权衡和限制。