Multiple home ownership in Chinese cities: An institutional and cultural perspective

China is a country of homeowners, where >80% of households own their homes and >20% of urban households own multiple homes. China achieved this unprecedented high rate home ownership in a short period of three decades. While we have a growing understanding of homeownership in general we are less clear about the process and outcomes of multiple home ownership in China. This paper examines the patterns of and driving forces for multiple home ownership, and explores the implications for housing inequality in Chinese cities. While socio-economic factors appear critical in China as is the case in the West, we argue for an institutional and cultural perspective to better understand multiple home ownership in China. The empirical analyses using 2015 China Household Finance Survey show that households who received housing subsidies, have urban registration, experienced demolition and resettlement, have school age children attending key schools, and have sons are more likely to own multiple homes. By focusing on the institutional and cultural forces, this paper better explains the unprecedented high rate of multiple homeownership in Chinese cities, and demonstrates how various housing policies in China have unintentionally contributed to multiple homeownership and thus housing and wealth inequality.