The household's housing decision-making process: Socio-economic and geographic interpretations

Abstract

The household's housing decision-making process has been examined and interpreted in different ways by various disciplines. In general, economists tend to focus on how individual households arrive at their housing decisions while sociologists stress on why individual households behave the way they do, and geographers are concerned with what outcomes are being generated from the relationships between the structure and growth of the city, and individual households' housing decisions. This paper provides a theoretical discussion of the household's housing decision-making process from the perspectives of the sociological, economic and geographic disciplines. In analysing the three approaches, it is observed that different disciplines tend to emphasize different areas of interest and no single discipline could address completely the complex issue of the household's housing decision-making process. An integrated multi-disciplinary approach is therefore essential for a better insight and deeper understanding of the thought processes, decisions and choices a household is likely to make in its search for a dwelling. Copyright©2000 IAHS.