An Empirical Research on Metropolitanization and Housing Price Differentiation Based on the Data of 31 Provincial Capitals and Municipalities with Independent Planning Status in China

Abstract

Under the background of population aggregation in megacities, some adjustments are made to the urbanization strategy, whose focus is shifted to the development of megacities and megacity clusters. Meanwhile, the housing price differentiation among cities tends to become increasingly serious. This paper, from the perspective of population mobility, takes provincial capitals and municipalities with independent planning status (PCs & MIPSs) as research samples to evaluate the level of housing price differentiation within provincial-level administrative divisions of China, and analyze from the perspective of demand side how the metropolitanization effects regarding the population formed due to population aggregation in megacities affect the housing prices of megacities and the housing price difference between megacities and other cities. The research found that: 1) The increasing net inflow of population boosts the housing prices and accelerate the housing price differentiation; 2) The impact of the increasing net inflow of population on housing price increases and housing price differentiation has regional heterogeneity and city size heterogeneity; 3) The income gap strengthens the effect of population inflow upon the housing price differentiation.