Rental housing types and subjective wellbeing: Evidence from Chinese superstar cities

Considerable attention has been paid to the role of homeownership in affecting individuals’ subjective wellbeing in previous literature. This study focuses on renters and examines the heterogeneity of the association between rental housing from different sources and individuals’ subjective wellbeing using data from a self-conducted survey on housing conditions, demand, and pressure in Chinese superstar cities (i.e., Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou). Our results suggest that security housing and work-unit housing are associated with higher levels of subjective wellbeing and that renters who live in urban village housing has lower levels of subjective wellbeing than their counterparts living in market housing. We offer explanations of the findings from the perspective of the differences in the community environment, housing conditions, living costs, and health status associated with different rental housing types.