Living Here, Owning There? Transnational Property Ownership and Migrants’ (Im)Mobility Considerations Beyond Return

Migrants’ property ownership in their countries of origin is often understood through the prism of return: both intended and actual return mobilities. Applying a transnational optic, this article unpacks the relationships between migrants’ property ownership‘backhome’ andtheir reflections on future moves andstays, not limited to possible return. We draw on 80 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2020 with Polish and Romanian migrants living in Barcelona and Oslo. They left their homeland, sometimes following domestic migration or international migration to other countries, before arriving in Spain andNorway. Basedon these case studies ofEast–Westmigration within Europe, we contribute to work recognising the ongoing complex anddiversifiednature ofmobilities in Europe. First, we detailwhat migrants’ property ownership looks like in practice – forms of ownership, types of property, location. Second, we focus on how owning property in Poland or Romania intersects with migrants’ considerations about moving or staying in the future, beyond return. Considerations about future (im)mobility shed light on transnational relationships, as these evolve over time and acrossspace. Furthermore, we findthattransnationalpropertyownershipintheircountries oforiginreveals muchabout migrants’ relations with people and places ‘back home’ and reflects the known non-linearity of migration stories. Overall, however, transnational property ownership is a poor predictor of both return plans and intentions.