Residential selection behaviors during the suburbanization of office location: Case studies of Omiya, Makuhari, and Yokohama

Abstract

The suburbanization of office location has been progressing in the metropolitan Tokyo since the latter half of the 1980s. Theoretically, when office functions are positioned in the suburbs as opposed to in the central business district (CBD), it becomes possible to establish a work-home relationship wherein people "live and work in the suburbs." However, no empirically based, detailed analysis has been conducted on the nature of the impact of suburbanization on the selection of residential districts by employees within existing research. The present study comprises an analysis of data collected from a questionnaire survey focusing on residential selection behavior during the relocation of office, which targeted the suburban cores of the former Omiya City, Makuhari New City, and Yokohama Minato Mirai 21, where comparatively smooth progress has been made in the suburbanization of office location. The results obtained can be summarized as follows. When office functions are positioned in the suburbs, many employees change their place of residence, which culminates in the proactive establishment of work-home relationships wherein people "live and work in the suburbs." Nevertheless, our analysis confirmed that the formation of a contiguous relationship between work and home, in other words, the work-home proximity effect, is dependent upon the life stage of individual employees at the time they are ordered to relocate. Notwithstanding the above, the changes in residence occurring upon relocation to the suburbs furnish employees with the opportunity to become homeowners, and there is a pronounced tendency among employees in Makuhari New City in particular to become homeowners at a young age. A number of reasons for this can be cited. 1) A large number of houses have been supplied in cheaper price zones located more than 40 km from center of Tokyo. 2) Commuting remains feasible even if such employees purchase houses in cheaper price zones located more than 40 km from center of Tokyo, which forms the source of commuting headaches for people employed in the CBD. 3) Such employees, who are transferred less frequently than sales workers, belong to the information-related divisions of major corporations.