Pathways to homeownership in urban China: transitions and generational fractures

Within a relatively short span of four decades, China has transformed itself from a country dominated by renters of public housing to a country with one of the world’shighest rates of homeownership. Radical reforms of the housing provision system have created a variety of housing pathways for different generations. Against this background, this paper adopts the ‘state–market–family triad’ in Esping-Andersen’s welfare state regime to examine three main pathways to homeownership: market-acquired, public-subsidised and family-supported, with a particular focus on the differences between generations. Based on data from the 2013 China Households Finance Survey, the empirical analysis verifies the transition to a more liberal housing system, in which the responsibility for housing provision has shifted from the state to the market. Meanwhile, families have become a vital social institution assisting young cohorts to achieve homeownership. The results also show that men are more likely to turn to family for housing support, a practice that reflects Chinese traditions. Moreover, the findings show that higher educational attainment has enhanced people’s independence from both the state and the family in terms of acquiring a home, and that institutional factors—particularly hukou status— largely determine people’s access to public-subsidised housing.