Too Much Yet Not Enough: Housing Segmentation and Household Consumption in China
IMF Working Papers, September 18, 2026
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- Too Much Yet Not Enough: Housing Segmentation and Household Consumption in China
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Estelle X Liu, Jibingxin Han
- Published: September 18, 2026
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229059459.001
Overview
- China's urban housing system is structurally segmented: market-based residential housing accounts for only about 40 percent of occupied urban dwellings, with the remainder split between rental and legacy housing acquired outside the market.
- The paper documents systematic associations between housing tenure and household consumption patterns using 2000–2020 Population Censuses and the 2019 China Household Finance Survey.
- Main behavioral contrasts are identified conditional on income, wealth, and household characteristics.
Data and empirical approach
- Data sources:
- 2000–2020 Population Censuses.
- 2019 China Household Finance Survey.
- Empirical focus:
- Consumption differences across tenure types (market homeowners, legacy homeowners, renters).
- Conditional analyses controlling for income, wealth, and household characteristics.
- Consistency checks across survey waves and panel-based evidence.
Key findings
- Tenure composition:
- Market-based residential housing ≈ about 40 percent of occupied urban dwellings.
- Consumption patterns by tenure (conditional on income, wealth, and household characteristics):
- Legacy homeowners:
- Exhibit lower discretionary consumption.
- Exhibit higher income responsiveness of consumption than renters.
- Market homeowners:
- Consumption is closely tied to housing wealth.
- Stability:
- These patterns are stable across survey waves and broadly consistent with panel-based evidence.
- Interpretation:
- Structural balance-sheet differences across residential regimes are important correlates of household consumption behavior in China.
Implications and analytical conclusions
- The documented heterogeneity in consumption responses suggests that housing tenure regimes shape the relationship between income, wealth, and consumption.
- Structural segmentation of the urban housing system (with market housing constituting about 40 percent) implies differentiated channels through which housing affects household spending.
Source: Estelle X Liu, and Jibingxin Han, "Too Much Yet Not Enough: Housing Segmentation and Household Consumption in China", IMF Working Paper No. 2026/193 (September 18, 2026).
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