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A Room of One's Own: Housing Consumption and Residential Crowding in Transitional Urban China

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  • Youqin Huang

    (Department of Geography and Planning, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA)

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to evaluate the level and examine the dynamics of housing consumption and residential crowding in urban China almost a decade after the housing reform was launched. I argue that housing consumption and residential crowding are affected not only by demographic and socio-economic factors, as they are in market economies, but also by institutional factors that are unique to China because of the dualism in housing reform. Using a 1996 national survey, I find that the level of housing consumption is still low and residential crowding is common. A room of one's own continues to be a dream for most Chinese. However, Chinese households now have more control over their housing, and their housing behaviors are beginning to share similarities with the West. For example, life cycle, household income, housing tenure, and city size have similar effects on housing consumption and residential crowding as they do in Western housing markets. It is still clear, however, that the socialist institution—the hukou system—continues to influence housing consumption, although to a lesser extent than in the prereform period. Households with rural or temporary hukou are at a disadvantage in the housing market, in the sense that they occupy less spacious housing and suffer more from residential crowding than do those with urban and permanent hukou. Yet, these last are more constrained by institutional variables such as job and work-unit characteristics, which affect housing consumption differently across cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Youqin Huang, 2003. "A Room of One's Own: Housing Consumption and Residential Crowding in Transitional Urban China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 35(4), pages 591-614, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:35:y:2003:i:4:p:591-614
    DOI: 10.1068/a35119
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tolley, G.S., 1991. "Urban Housing Reform in China," World Bank - Discussion Papers 123, World Bank.
    2. George Galster, 1988. "Residential segregation in American cities: A contrary review," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 7(2), pages 93-112, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Youqin Huang & Leiwen Jiang, 2009. "Housing Inequality in Transitional Beijing," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 936-956, December.
    2. Zhao, Pengjun & Lü, Bin & Roo, Gert de, 2011. "Impact of the jobs-housing balance on urban commuting in Beijing in the transformation era," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 59-69.
    3. Chao Li & John Gibson, 2014. "Spatial Price Differences and Inequality in the People's Republic of China: Housing Market Evidence," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 31(1), pages 92-120, March.

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