Understanding housing aspirations and choices in changing contexts: A mapping review

Key messages:

Research into aspirations and choices has typically considered the relative importance of a range of factors in housing decisions, for example the role of life course events in decisions to move house or change tenure.

Terms such as choices, preferences, expectations, aspirations and decisions, are often used interchangeably and lack clarity; they may therefore refer to a range of behaviours.

We do not have a good understanding of the role housing expectations may play in shaping aspirations.

A range of research has highlighted the role of socio-cultural factors such as identity, emotion, social norms and cultural dispositions in guiding people’s views about housing.

A key area for contemporary research is to explain the extent to which changing housing market contexts, particularly in relation to wider affordability, are restricting the range of housing options that are open to different groups, at different points in the life course.