Institutions, urban space, and residential markets in globalizing Shanghai: A comparative study of housing sale and rental prices

ABSTRACT

China’s skyrocketing residential market has raised concerns about housing affordability in metropolitan areas. Current literature usually overlooks the various mechanisms between sale and rent, which may unfold more fundamental structural forces beyond housing location and attributes. This study constructs an analytical framework to investigate how global, regional, and local development contexts, including institutional forces, urban spatial structure, human capital, and neoclassical factors, affect apartment sales and rental prices in Shanghai, China. These factors collectively shape the city’s residential market, but renters and buyers may show different housing preferences. Such variation is highly related to their residential status, as renters may prioritize job opportunities while buyers value service amenities more. From the spatial perspective, suburban areas are more inclusive than urban centers, as globalization and institutional factors have exacerbated inequality in the residential housing market in urban centers, and homeownership is changing the patterns of segregation in Chinese cities.

KEYWORDS:

• Globalization
• institution
• amenity
• housing price
• rental price

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ford [129647].

Notes on contributors

Yehua Dennis Wei

Yehua Dennis Wei is a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Utah. His research focuses on economic and urban geography, urban and regional development, spatial inequality, and sustainability, with a regional focus on China.

Yangyi Wu

Yangyi Wu is an assistant professor in the School of Urban Design at Wuhan University. His research interests are concentrated on analyzing uneven urban development relying on advanced spatial analysis and statistics in the United States and China.

Han Li

Han Li is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Regional Studies at the University of Miami. His research uses the technical advancements in GIS spatial modeling, remote sensing, and spatial statistics to examine patterns, dynamics, and consequences of urban development in the United States and China.