Impact Of High Housing Price On Urban Green Growth

Since China's reform and opening up,economic development has achieved a series of remarkable achievements.However,the Chinese economy is often referred to as "black" and "gray" growth,that is,energy consumption is large,waste and pollution are high,but real output is low,which is an extensive growth paradigm.Compared with the average GDP growth rate of 9.8%from 2000 to 2015,the current potential growth rate of China's economy is declining and entering the crossroads of development and transformation.Under the "new economic normal",the old model of growth driven by resource input and investment is unsustainable.From extensive to intensive development,improving environmental quality and improving green total factor productivity are issues that must be faced in the process of high-quality green development in Chinese cities.The essence of green growth is to promote the coordinated development of economic growth and environmental protection,and to improve green total factor productivity is the source of green growth.The real estate industry has undoubtedly played an important role in China,s urban economic and social development.In the past decade,it has become the "pillar industry" for urban economic growth.Most local governments have even relied heavily on "land finance".The city's housing prices have been rising with the expansion of the real estate industry,and there has been a"real estate bubble" phenomenon.At the same time,the growth rate of China's urban green total factor productivity(GTFP)has been faltering at a low level,and the contribution of real estate to urban high-quality green growth is obviously weak.China's urbanization is constantly advancing,population industry is concentrated,and the mutual restriction of resources,environment and economic growth directly leads to the development of low quality.The real estate industry is one of the three major sources of urban pollution.Its excessive development has led to a rapid expansion of urban infrastructure and population,which has intensified various resource consumption and pollution production.At the same time,the real estate industry's pull on the upstream and downstream related heavy chemical industry,manufacturing,mining,and smelting industries has intensified the"solidification effect" of the secondary industry,which is a deeper cause of environmental pollution and green efficiency.In addition,overheated housing prices have led to distortions in investment,crowding up funds,weakening the research and innovation capabilities of other industries,and creating obstacles to the improvement of green economy efficiency.The rational regulation of housing prices and real estate is a key boost to the city's successful green transformation.Therefore,it is of great practical significance to study the specific impact of housing price level on urban green total factor productivity,and also provide a new perspective for the green transformation and intensive sustainable development of Chinese cities.This paper uses DEA to measure the Mannquist-Luenberger index of 285 prefecture-level cities and above in China from 2007 to 2016(Malmquist-Luenberger),hereinafter referred to as ML index).On this basis,the base period cumulative multiplication method is used to calculate the specific green total factor productivity over the years to measure the green growth level of the sample city.After that,this paper selects the corresponding control variables to construct the city panel data,and empirically tests the specific impact of housing price increase on green growth.At the same time,this paper divides the cities with different population size,geographic location and resource mastery,and empirically studies the heterogeneity of housing prices on urban green growth under the condition of unbalanced development.A series of robustness tests were conducted.Finally,this paper further studies the intermediate conduction mechanism of housing prices affecting GTFP through the mediation effect model.Through the above research,the following basic conclusions are obtained:First,house prices have a significant negative correlation with the green growth.Excessive housing prices have hindered the improvement of GTFP.which is not conducive to the transformation of intensive production.The robustness test also supports this conclusion.Second,the excessively high housing prices have a significant negative effect on the green development level of small and medium-sized cities,western cities and ordinary big cities.At the micro level,house prices have "elimination effect" and"transfer effect" on enterprises,and at the same time,"reverse effect".House prices have a positive correlation with the green development of megacities,central and eastern cities and key cities.But in essence,this "green positive effect" is only the result of the displacement of low-efficiency and high-pollution enterprises to cities with lower housing prices,but further exacerbates the imbalance.Third,through the mediation effect model,this paper studies the transmission mechanism of housing prices affecting green growth.The soaring urban housing prices have led to distortions in investment,hindering the flow of innovative talents,and thus weakening the overall scientific and technological innovation of the city.Housing prices have a "solidifying" effect on the urban industrial structure,stimulating the development of high-energy-consuming industries,hindering the upgrading of industrial structure and the construction of ecological civilization,and creating obstacles to the improvement of urban green efficiency.Finally,based on the previous conclusions,this paper makes recomlendations on green growth and house price regulation in Chinese cities.As an environmentally friendly and sustainable new model,the essence of green growth is to achieve economic growth and environmental coordination.It is necessary to adapt to local conditions and treat the disease according to the actual economy and environment of each place.Pay attention to environmental issues in the real estate industry,establish a long-term mechanism for the healthy development of real estate,and stabilize housing prices.Accurately lock down the reasons for GTFP downgrade and encourage enterprises to enhance their technological innovation capabilities.Promote the decoupling and decoupling of real estate growth from environmental and resource constraints,and create new growth drivers through technological innovation,environmental assessment and the improvement of environmental protection and governance capabilities,and achieve coordinated development of real estate production and environment.