Factors Influencing the Residential Choice Set Formation: A Qualitative Exploration based on Search Criteria

In recent studies, varied approaches to represent housing search process in generating behaviorally realistic choice set are presented, with focus on commuting distance as dominant search criteria. However, we hypothesize that there may be other dominant search criteria that household consider to define their search space. The selection of these search criteria may depend on triggers and household’s characteristics, two major determinants of ‘decision to move’ stage accounting the dependency across the decision stages of residential relocation process. This study aims to explore these additional search criteria and the factors that influence them. Based on the qualitative analysis of 90 recent movers’ interview, we identified six dominant search criteria (including commuting distance) which are significantly influenced by household’s travel-related attitudes such as travel aversion, preference for walking, car, and public transport, sensitivity to workplace distance and social network distance, alongside sensitivity to dwelling and neighborhood character, triggers and household’s characteristics. The study provides evidence that the identified search criteria shape the initial search space of households, offering an alternative approach to estimating choice sets in residential location models. It also highlights the influence of travel-related attitudes on shaping the initial search space, which are typically considered in the final residential location choice but here significantly influence the early stages of the search process.