Home ownership, housing differentiation and experiences of living: evidence from young, promising middle-class Beijingers

ABSTRACT

Young people and their housing conditions are closely linked, since housing determines whether an individual can lead a smooth transition from dependence to independence. Nevertheless, young people across many societies face growing problems in achieving this transition, which can be attributed to rising house prices and the lack of affordable alternatives to homeownership. Moreover, young people are likely to have vastly divergent experiences and outcomes depending on their tenure. This paper explores these issues in relation to young people in Beijing. The paper argues that the housing issues in Beijing have distinct local characteristics. Drawing on a unique dataset of 83 housing stories, this paper explores housing differentiation and experiences amongst young, promising middle-class people in Beijing. This paper attempts to answer the following research questions: What factors contribute to young people’s access to homeownership in light of the rising house prices in Beijing? How is homeownership differentiated by different classifications? The answers to the research questions are the key to understanding the differentiation of homeownership amongst young, promising middle-class people in Beijing.

KEYWORDS:

• Young people
• housing
• differentiation
• middle class
• Beijing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The paper focuses on the housing of promising ‘middle-class’ young people in Beijing, which will be elaborated in the Method section.

2 One of the qualifications for the MPA programme is that students should have work experience of at least 3 years. They include younger ones who are at their 20s, and the more matured who may have many years of work experience. That makes an expansive age span of 20-40.

3 Apparently, literature has largely defined ‘middle class’ from different perspectives over the last few decades. However, it remains an intractable tale. In spite of this, a consensus has emerged that ‘middle class’ can be identified through economic and occupational status, as well as the attitudes and behaviour of people (Mcloughlin 1982), thereby comprising a grand perspective of ‘middle class’. When considered within a specific region, the classification should begin with discerning physical conditions, such as income and occupation. Middle class in China are being classified by multivariate indexes, such as occupation, education and income. In this way, the middle class in China are defined as people with a certain educational level, mid-level income (annual income of RMB15,000–60,000 in Beijing in 2011), and white-collar occupations (Li 2013).

4 In September 2017, however, owner-occupied housing was ‘updated’ into shared-property-right housing (共有产权房). Up till data collection in June 2017, owner-occupied housing had remained an important type of policy-supported housing for the people.

5 Such flats are also called group-rental housing and have been prohibited in Beijing since 2013.

6 In Beijing’s administrative division, it is commonly divided into urban (Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai, and Shijingshan), suburban (Daxing, Tongzhou, Shunyi, Changping, Mentougou and Fangshan) and outer suburban (Huairou, Pinggu, Miyun and Yanqing) districts. In this study, urban area refers to the six urban districts and the others as suburban areas.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China [Grant Number 15CSH046].