| Housing reform in urban China aims to introduce market mechanisms to a heavily subsidized housing system. As part of the gradual transition toward a market economy, the current housing system is a dual system with both market mechanisms and socialist institutions operating. Urban households in China have been granted freedom of housing choice, and they can choose public or private housing, owning or renting. This research aims to understand housing behaviors in transitional urban China. Using a framework based on institutional relationships among major actors in the housing system—households, work units, local governments, the state and developers, housing choice is studied from not only the perspective of households but also households' position in the web of institutional relationships among these actors. A national study with the multilevel modeling technique and case studies of three cities—Beijing, Chongqing and Jiangyin—are employed to study housing choice and its regional variations.; My central argument is that housing choice in urban China is constrained by the transitional nature of the housing system. In addition to household characteristics and the housing market, institutional forces that characterize the institutional relationships among households, the government and work units affect housing choice. The empirical analyses based on a national survey (1996) show that housing choice in urban China shares some similarities with that in market economies, as indicated by similar effects of some household characteristics (e.g. age, household size, income) and housing market factors (e.g. housing price) on housing choice. Yet, housing choice in urban China is unique due to the lingering dependency between households and public housing agencies. While some household characteristics such as marital status and number of workers have different effects on housing choice from that in market economies, work units, the state and the local government play significant roles in housing choice. In general, households with closer relationships with these agents are more likely to choose public housing and renting. Furthermore, there are significant regional variations in housing choices. In cities with diverse housing stocks, cheaper housing, and open governments, households are more likely to choose private housing and home ownership. |
