There has been much discussion in the urban and regional studies literature about the significance of housing markets for migration. Hughes and McCormick (1981) demonstrate that rental tenants have a higher propensity to move than owner-occupiers. They also found that for council tenants it is much more difficult to migrate from one region to another compared to owner-occupiers. Indeed, in a relatively free housing market, one would expect tenants as a group to have significantly higher migration rates, because the costs of migration are so much lower for tenants than for owner-occupiers. In this research we have studied migration and housing market in Stevenage and Warrington New Towns. Stevenage and Warrington New Towns belong to different generations in Britain and each had a different housing stock profile in the first decade of its designation. In the case of Stevenage New Town during the decade 1951- 1961 there was a large amount of housing development by the Development Corporation, and in the meantime there was a huge volume of in-migration into Stevenage. Warrington New Town, as a third generation New Town, was founded in 1968. The result of the labour market accounts for Warrington indicates that there were considerable differences in the first and second decades in the development of Warrington New Town. Because of a slight change in employment there was a small amount of in-migration over the first stage of its development, while in the second stage (1980s) there was substantial in-migration to the town. The study of housing market in Warrington indicates that the majority of rented housing was rented by in-migrants, and availability of housing to rent was an important factor for migration of young families to Warrington. It is clear that availability of accommodation for rent, varies between different labour market areas and has an important function in the mobility of population in the New Towns labour market.

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