Who leaves rental housing? Examining possible explanations for ethnic housing segmentation in Uppsala, Sweden: Fid-Bau Portal

Who leaves rental housing? Examining possible explanations for ethnic housing segmentation in Uppsala, Sweden

Bråmå, Åsa / Andersson, Roger

Abstract Swedish cities are not only segregated but also segmented along ethnic lines; i.e., different ethnic groups are unevenly distributed across the different tenure segments in the housing market. Immigrants are generally overrepresented in rental housing and underrepresented in home ownership and tenant–owner cooperative housing. In this paper, an attempt is made to evaluate the importance of socioeconomic resources in explaining this segmentation, using the Uppsala housing market as a case. By means of binary logistic regression an evaluation is made of the relative importance of socioeconomic resources and ethnic background, while controlling for demographic factors, in explaining whether a person leaves rental housing for home ownership or cooperative housing or remains in the rental segment. The results show that the socioeconomic situation of the individual is indeed very important. A high income and a stable position in the labor market seem to be crucial in order to advance in the housing market. Demographic and socioeconomic factors cannot, however, fully account for the differences found between Swedes and immigrant groups such as Africans and Eastern Europeans. The results imply that ethnic discrimination cannot be ruled out as an explanation for the underrepresentation of immigrants in the cooperative and owner-occupied segments.