Assessing housing subjectivity: an analysis of value systems through the Australian property ladder

This thesis will uncover individuals’ subjective housing values in the Greater Brisbane Region. Residents’ housing needs will be distinguished from housing opportunities by structuring their needs within housing containers associated with their physiological needs and by comparing such needs against their housing moves. This is because the housing market is shaped through complex interactions which individual actors are unaware of in their actions. An objective definition of the housing market can be ascertained by layering individuals’ subjective accounts. It is expected that by separating housing into parts such as home, house and dwelling, then household aspirations can be situated, rather than combining housing circumstances under ambiguous constructs.

This research considers that effective housing environments present individuals a greater degree of freedom to exercise their housing aspirations. In order to understand how housing within the case study area satisfies this normative benchmark, individuals’ mobility patterns are compared with their overarching life stages and aspirations. This is implemented with a mixed method approach incorporating semi-structured interviews and web search analytics.

Supervisors: Dr Thomas Sigler  Dr Peter Walters