Socio-spatial differentiation in Shenzhen, China: an exploratory analysis of relationships between house prices, housing types and household characteristics

Urban China has experienced growing diversity in all aspects of housing provision and consumption since economic reform, especially China's housing reform with the growing role played by the market. As the first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of China, Shenzhen has been transformed from a one-time fishing village to its fastest growing city after 30 years booming development. Based on transaction records for Shenzhen's established housing market, this paper aims to develop an exploratory framework concerning the interrelationship between house prices, housing and household types and explore the socio-spatial pattern particularly for commodity housing areas. It is clearly indicated that the residential structure is largely filled with heterogeneous housing stocks and even at the district scale, socio-spatial differentiation is explicitly visible in Shenzhen city, especially between inner and outer areas from dimensions of tenure status, age, occupation and hukou.