Why home ownership causes unemployment. - By Tim Harford - Slate Magazine

Why home ownership causes unemployment. - By Tim Harford - Slate Magazine: "The Renter's Manifesto: Why home ownership causes unemployment.
By Tim Harford
Posted Saturday, March 17, 2007, at 12:09 AM ET"

An interesting article. Harford posits that owning a home prevents one from changing jobs easily by saddling people to a particular city. Perhaps this is true. But what is it that prevents people from selling and moving besides their own reluctance and emotional ties?

"So, professor Oswald is right to argue that we should do everything possible to free up impediments to renting or to selling a house and buying a new one."

What impediments? Perhaps he is talking about governments "no growth" policies that drive the prices of homes above what most people can afford, or the fact that selling a house requires so much time and effort compared to moving out of an apartment? I wish he were more specific about this.