Perceiving pressure: How the housing market perceptions of highly-skilled migrants in Brainport Eindhoven influence their housing trajectories

Abstract

This study explores how the housing market and urban space perceptions of highly-skilled migrants as transnational gentrifiers in Brainport Eindhoven influence their housing trajectories. Interviews with nineteen highly-skilled migrants and three experts analyse the dynamics between the labour benefits of highly-skilled migration, the positive and negative effects of transnational gentrification, and the highly skilled migrants’ understanding of the regional housing market. These dynamics shape the decision-making and subsequent housing trajectories of highly-skilled migrants in Brainport as a non-world city. The study concludes that the perceived overheated housing market leads to low residential mobility among HSMs, which disrupts the housing market flow. When deciding to move, participating HSMs favour homeownership over tenancy. This is due to their extended length of stay, expected positive return on their investment with similar monthly costs compared to renting, and their advantageous financial situation combined with the Dutch loan-to-value ratio. To conclude, this study provides suggestions on depressurising the homeownership market and improving the housing market flow in Brainport Eindhoven.