Role of the Residential Real Estate Market in the Ethnosocial Differentiation of European Capitals: London, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, and Moscow

Abstract

The paper studies the modern spatial situation of ethnosocial stratification in three large European capitals – London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Moscow. For Moscow, it is especially important to reveal the dependence between prices of residential real estate and settlement pattern of immigrants, since the number of immigrants is increasing. Analysis has shown that prices of residential real estate are significantly differentiated within city borders and represent an important factor in spatial social stratification. The correlation between prices of residential real estate and the share of immigrants is the largest in Moscow and the smallest in Berlin. Differences are conditioned by the degree of social stratification, the specifics of immigration, the level of immigrant social protection, and the quality, cost, and other features of housing.

The lower the social position of migrants, the larger a role ethnicity plays. On the whole, for cities with long-term immigration, the concentration of immigrants in districts with cheap housing is an indication of the social problems of these districts, and in districts with expensive housing, the concentration of immigrants is an indication of social growth and the successful adaptation of immigrants. In Paris, immigrants from poor countries settle, just like in London, in areas where prices and incomes are low and unprestigious jobs are available, creating ethnic ghetto-like enclaves. The number, share, and composition of immigrants, motives, duration of immigration, and features of the cities themselves make up the spatial specifics of ethnosocial stratifi cation. As immigrants adapt, the role of ethnicity decreases, which infl uences not only employment, income, and quality of life, but also place of residence within a city.