Understanding rural housing abandonment in China's rapid urbanization

Rural housing abandonment (RHA) is happening on a large scale in China and accumulatively leads to the phenomenon of village hollowing. This paper conducts a microscopic analysis on the influencing factors of individual decision making in the process of RHA through an empirical study on Pi County in southwest China. Our multi-level logistic regression shows that RHA is mainly influenced by the pulling forces of urban economy and the deteriorated physical condition of rural houses. We discuss that how these factors exert their influence is further linked with the institutional barriers in China that impede the free movement of residents and properties between urban and rural systems, which distorts individual choices towards RHA. Therefore, we suggest policies that promote the equalization of rural and urban residents and recognize the need for the free transfer of rural land and property, as well as the need to develop tools that effectively predict the emergence of RHA.