The housing market and tenure decisions in Chinese cities: A multivariate analysis of the case of Guangzhou

Using a sample of recently completed 'commodity housing' in Guangzhou, i.e. dwellings that were built by development companies and sold or rented at full market price in the primary market, a multi-level legit analysis of the housing allocation process and of tenure decisions was conducted. The results of the statistical analysis are generally in line with the nature of housing market segmentation and the forces governing housing allocation and consumption in China in general and Guangzhou in particular. Residents in open market housing generally have higher incomes and hold higher-status jobs than those in the subsidised sectors. However, at the same time, the getihu or petty traders, who rank low in terms of occupational status, are also likely to be occupants of open market housing. Household characteristics also show systematic variations between occupants of different types of subsidised housing. In particular residents of resettlement housing tend to occupy lower-status jobs. In terms of tenure choice, the results for the open market housing residents are to some extent consistent with studies conducted in market economies. In the subsidised sectors, the factors underlying homeownership are quite different between housing types. Occupation, for example, has significant effects on homeownership in both work unit housing and housing bureau housing, but the nature of the influence is quite different in each case. In the case of resettlement housing, none of the household attributes, with the exception of the head's year of service in present employment organisation, was found to be significant.