Housing Tenure Choice in Transitional Urban China: A Multilevel Analysis

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 7 - 32
• Main Authors: Huang, Youqin, Clark, William A. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England Carfax Publishing, Taylor & Francis Ltd 01.01.2002; SAGE Publications; Longman Group; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Analysis; Asia; Bgi / Prodig; China; China (People's Republic); Cities; Commodities; Decision-making; Economic change; Economic conditions; Households; Housing; Housing Market; Housing Policy; Housing prices; Human geography; Institutions; Marital status; Modelling; Occupational stratification; Peoples Republic of China; Polls & surveys; Public housing; Rental housing; Seniority; Socialism; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomics; Tenure; Transition economies; Urban Areas; Urban conditions; Urban studies; China; Household behaviour; Residential choice; Owner-occupier; Economic reform; Family income; Urban settlement; Socialism; Enterprise; Housing; Housing market
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1080/00420980220099041

Using a 1996 national survey of housing in China and a multilevel modelling technique, we examine housing tenure choice in transitional urban China where households have been granted limited freedom of choice in the housing market since the housing reforms of 1988. We find that both market mechanisms and institutional forces affect households' tenure choice in urban China. While some socioeconomic factors such as age, household size, household income and housing price have similar effects on tenure choice as in the West, others such as the number of workers and marital status have rather different effects. In addition, factors characterising institutional relationships among the state, work units and households, such as job rank and work unit rank, still play important roles in tenure choice.