Intergenerational Housing Support between Retired Old Parents and their Children in Urban China

Tackling low housing affordability in cities has become a key concern for the Chinese government, as it is increasingly associated with ensuring social stability as well as guaranteeing a decent standard of living for urban residents. To make housing more affordable, the government has tried to push down house prices by directly limiting second homeownership or indirectly tightening monetary policies. Since 2010, the policy emphases have been on increasing social housing supply and controlling speculation. However, government interventions remain limited. A series of academic studies have appeared recently, investigating the impact of government interventions upon house prices, the reactions of real estate developers and the relationship between housing market and land supply. These studies tend to highlight their concern for government interventions that distort the market. Intergenerational support between parents and children in Chinese cities has been dramatically affected by recent social changes. This paper investigates the changing pattern of intergenerational housing support between retired old parents and their children, and the legacy of public housing in shaping this pattern. By initially establishing an up-to-date picture of intergenerational housing support between retired old parents and their children, it seeks to determine how this support depends on whether parents have previously been allocated public housing and if so, on whether they have disposed of it or have continued to occupy it.