Housing development and urbanisation in China

Yao, Shujie; Luo, Dan; Wang, Jianling

Abstract

Rapid urbanisation and rising income have led to a strong demand for housing in urban China. However, housing development has been distorted by speculation, income inequality and lack of government support for low-cost houses. In recent years, house prices become so high, making the vast majority of urban residents unable to afford, whereas rich families are able to buy many and leave them vacant. Income inequality is a major cause for rising house prices, which, in turn, exaggerates income inequality further. This vicious relationship has caused social tension between the rich and the poor and unhappiness among the middle- and low-income groups. This paper discusses the factors responsible for the housing bubble in China and recommends appropriate policies to resolve this problem.

Citation

Yao, S., Luo, D., & Wang, J. (2014). Housing development and urbanisation in China. World Economy, 37(3), https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12105

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jun 18, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 18, 2015
• Journal: World Economy
• Electronic ISSN: 0378-5920
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12105
• Keywords: economic affordable housing, China, inequality
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/996826
• Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/twec.12105/abstract
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: ; Yao, S., Luo, D. and Wang, J. (2014) Housing development and urbanisation in China, World Economy, 37 (3): 481-500, which has been published in final form at doi: 10.1111/twec.12105. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.