Residential Strategies and Plans after Retirement : The Cases of Paris and of One of Its Suburb
During the later part of the twentieth century, the quality of housing changed dramatically in France. Current cohorts of older people have witnessed these transformations firsthand. Most are homeowners and almost one in four owns a second home. They are also less residentially mobile than younger cohorts. Their arrival at the age of retirement means they will engage in new forms of residential mobility. These depend on how the housing market develops and their residential preferences. They prefer areas of relatively high population density with good access to amenities, but also want to spend time elsewhere, in second homes. On the basis of data from various surveys, we show that the residential choices around retirement revolve around life course trajectories and family configurations, and explain how these interact with urban environments’ socio-economic trends.