Pathways to homeownership among young professionals in urban China: The role of family resources
Tsz-ming Or
Urban Studies, 2018, vol. 55, issue 11, 2391-2407
Abstract:
Studies on China’s new housing regime primarily focus on state and market as major provision mechanisms and the role of family assistance is largely ignored. This paper explores how family resources help Chinese young professionals in their pathways to homeownership by drawing on qualitative interviews done in Beijing. It was found that young professionals who managed to secure parental help usually came from middle-class families, with parents who were public-sector professionals and managers benefiting from the state’s generous housing reforms in the 1990s. As a result of these intergenerational transfers, housing advantages of these middle-class parents were reproduced among their younger generation, making it easier for them to become homeowners. They might also exacerbate the pre-existing housing inequality. These transfers were made possible in the unique family context with frequent reciprocal exchanges of help and care, which was strengthened by the country’s one-child policy. The new housing regime, characterised by the neoliberal shift of the state’s role and the house price inflation, also enhanced the necessity of relying on family resources.
Keywords: China; homeownership; intergenerational relationship; market transition; the middle classes; ä¸å›½; ä½ æˆ¿æ‰€æœ‰æ ƒ; 代际关系; 市场转型; ä¸äº§é˜¶çº§ (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098017714212 (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:55:y:2018:i:11:p:2391-2407
DOI: 10.1177/0042098017714212
Access Statistics for this article
More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().