An Analysis of Intraurban Residential Ownership Patterns

Abstract

This paper examines intraurban variation in residential ownership patterns. An entropy-maximizing model of the spatial–social distribution of rented urban residential units is presented, a number of formal properties of the model are established, and the model is then tested against data from fourteen Canadian cities at three different time periods. On the average, in 1961 and 1971, residences were more likely to be rented in urban districts where a large proportion of the family heads were under thirty-five years old. In any city, all residences, whether located in rich or poor districts, were almost equally likely to be rented. In 1971 over two-fifths of the intraurban variation in ownership patterns was accounted for by the distance separating residences from the city centre. Between 1951 and 1971 there was a significant suburbanization of rented residential units. Although the empirical patterns broadly conform to the theoretical one, there is considerable spatial and temporal intraurban variation.