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Approaching homeownership : the housing decisions of young white-collar workers in reform-era Beijing

University of British Columbia

Since housing choice and strategy are the result of both an individual’s financial capability in a particular life stage, as well as overall political-economic circumstances, the study of housing behavior has been used to emphasize processes of urban development and social change. However, housing behavior in the Chinese context has not attracted much research attention. Although many studies have been done on various topics surrounding China’s housing reform, only several quantitative studies have touched upon the topic of individual housing behavior. All of the existing literature is based on statistics before 1998 when work-unit housing distribution was officially repealed. This thesis offers an update of qualitative information on how young white-collar workers approach homeownership after 1998. Ten young homeowners from Beijing, together with some practitioners in the housing market and two governmental officials were interviewed. Based on the information offered by the interviewees, this thesis examines how state policies, market situations, family structure, and special characteristics of Beijing as a capital city impact the housing choices and strategies of young homeowners.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2008-11-19

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/2793

Planning

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/