Housing satisfaction and quality of life (an empirical research among residents of a Dutch city)

Abstract

The prominent aim of most housing studies is to examine residential situations in order to understand housing demands and future consequences on the surrounding urban environment. Most research on housing satisfaction has been performed in socio-behavioral sciences and has looked at housing satisfaction as an essential explanatory input to study migration patterns, affordable housing and residential mobility. Nevertheless, in few studies, housing satisfaction has been assessed to understand residents’ subjective well being. This little emphasis on housing in terms of quality of life measurement highlights the gap in this research stream and the need for more detailed studies on this interdisciplinary field.This paper has aimed to enhance the understanding of the housing satisfaction concept and how this major life domain is affected by socio-demographic characteristics of individuals as well as the characteristics of one’s house. Moreover, the role of housing satisfaction on quality of life is investigated. Using the data that is collected among the residents of the city of Eindhoven in the Netherlands, this study applied path analysis method to capture the links between various variables and their impacts on overall housing satisfaction. The findings highlight the major impact of satisfaction with ownership, housing type and dwelling design on overall house satisfaction . Moreover, satisfaction with housing shows a significant and direct influence on the overall quality of life subjectively experienced by residents.