Housing Inequality in Urban China: Theoretical Debates, Empirical Evidences, and Future Directions

Abstract

Within three decades, the urban housing reform in China has changed access to housing from a system of socialist administrative allocation to that of more market-dominated housing development and consumption. Researchers have studied the socioeconomic and spatial consequences of these profound transformations. This review focuses on China’s housing inequality literature in relation to the changing origins, spatial patterns, and recent policy responses. The article reveals the unique features of China’s transitional economy along with massive urbanization, in which housing inequalities are rooted in socialism and strengthened by institutional changes of a state-led market economy.

Rule by Law, Law-Based Governance, and Housing Prices: The Case of China

“…Based on this, the regulatory policies during this period were relatively loose, mainly in the form of interest rate and tax rate reductions. Since 2017, the Chinese government emphasized the residential nature of housing and insisted on the position that houses were for living in, not for speculation, and attempted to promote a steady development of the housing market [49]. This seems to be a return to the original intent of the market-oriented housing reform in 1998.…”

Generational variations in the timing of entry into homeownership in Shanghai: The role of family formation and family of origin

“…Housing inequalities across work units rooted in socialism have been strengthened by the institutional changes of a state-led market economy. Among older cohorts, those employed in the public sector were provided with greater opportunities to acquire a home (Fang et al, 2020; Li and Yi, 2007; Logan et al, 2010). Along with the deepening of marketisation, the increasing economic, political and cultural significance of homeownership has increased young people’s desire for homeownership.…”

Urban Planning Research and Practice in China

“…The article of Fang, Liu, and Chen (2020, pp. 38–50) on housing inequality is timely, particularly as the skyrocketing housing price has consumed family wealth and threatened the sustainable development of individual persons and of Chinese cities.…”

“…China planning in the last four decades has been used mainly as spatial devices for economic development, and such a narrow focus needs to be shifted in the new planning system. Fang, Liu, and Chen (2020, pp. 38–50) directly examine housing inequality.…”

“…22–37) point out the lack of evaluation of UGB/UDB’s performance. Fang, Liu, and Chen (2020, pp. 38-50) expect future fine-grained assessments of housing and sociospatial inequality and mixed-method research that combines qualitative and quantitative analysis.…”