Based on the 2006 wave of the China General Social Survey, this paper analyses interregional disparities in residential satisfaction in urban China. It also explores whether the determinants vary across the coastal, central and inland regions by means of a multi-group structural equation model (SEM). We find that residential satisfaction in the coastal region is lower than in the central and inland regions. Housing quality, home ownership, community type, socioeconomic status and Hukou in all three regions have positive impacts on residential satisfaction, while the presence of children has a negative effect. The magnitude of each variable’s impact on residential satisfaction varies across regions due to the disparities in economic, social and physical conditions. Housing quality is the most important determinant of residential satisfaction in the coastal region, whereas community type and Hukou are the most important in the central and inland regions.

The impact of home ownership on life satisfaction in urban China: A propensity score matching analysis Ren, Honghao; Folmer, Henk; van der Vlist, A.J.

No abstract

Urbanization, industrialization and real estate reform have led to a vast growth of the real estate-construction sector in China. Using the 2002 and 2007 provincial input-output tables, this paper examines the importance of the real estateconstruction sector in the Chinese economy by applying the hypothetical extraction method. The results show that for the 30 studied provinces, the weighted average impact of the real estate-construction sector accounts for 21 % of total output and for approximately 14 % of all jobs in 2002. For 2007, these figures are 23 and 22 %, respectively. The impact of the real estate-construction sector on total output and employment varies across regions. In 2007, the direct and indirect output and employment of real estate-construction sector accounted for around 15 % of total regional output and employment in Shandong and Henan, and for 40 % in Tianjin, Jilin, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Xinjiang. Our results also indicate that the real estate-construction sector is strongly own final demand oriented and regional economies which highly rely on it are particularly vulnerable to a fall in its demand.