Abstract:

Retiring to the seaside in France represents 15% of the flow of retirement migration. This article is based on a survey of a sample of people recently retired in 22 smaller French coastal resorts, and on an original analysis of the retired population of the 317 French seaside resorts from the one in five sample of the 1975 census. Who is retiring to the seaside, why and how? What are the roles of social structure, family structure and residential history? The emphasis is placed on retirement housing, on the role of the housing market of the places left and chosen and on the use made by the retirees of the housing stock of the resorts. The survey of 1979–80 and a follow‐up in 1983 show that to most people the move turned out to be a satisfactory one, but that a quarter of the households were already living in their second retirement dwelling. Six out of ten are better accommodated than they have ever been, nine out of ten appreciate their dwelling. But an important minority of women came reluctantly, and with widowhood and further ageing the problems for older migrants will be more and more the support‐structure for staying put.