The impacts of China housing reform on residents' living conditions

China's housing reform has brought significant changes to housing supply and allocation. This thesis uses a 2005 survey of Beijing residents to examine how housing conditions vary among different housing sources and across various population groups. Results indicate that people who owned their housing reported better housing conditions (larger space and better satisfaction with open space and landscape quality) than renters; residents living in privately developed housing reported better conditions than those living in publicly developed housing. People at a younger age (<40) group and higher income residents relied on multiple housing sources to obtain homeownership, while older-age (>50) and lower-income residents relied on purchasing past public housing or public-subsidized affordable housing to achieve homeownership. This research shows that while the reform has led to more housing choices and better housing quality for urban residents, it also resulted in greater inequality in housing and environment qualities among different population groups.