HOUSING ASPIRATIONS AND MIGRATION IN LATER LIFE - DEVELOPMENTS DURINGTHE 1980S

This paper tests hypotheses concerning the differentiation of early an d late old age in the United Kingdom with reference to housing prefere nces and requirements and their translation into migrations. Evidence is drawn from the 1991 GB census and from a representative sample of e lderly people in SE England. The sources demonstrate the continued ela boration of long-distance, metropolitan-decentralizing migrations arou nd the age of retirement. Also shown are relatively high rates of resi dential mobility among people in their seventies and eighties. Most of their migrations are short distance, but nonetheless with a net redis tributional effect that sustains urban decentralization at the oldest ages. There is no evidence of significant return migration to London a t advanced ages. From the survey responses, distinctive housing dissat isfactions are identified in early and late retirement, but neither se t exactly matches expressed motivations for moves. Analysis and interp retation of the disparities between the expressed dissatisfactions and motivations yield several insights into people's adjustment to their actual and anticipated experiences in old age, and illuminates the hou sing aspirations and achievements of the most recent cohort.