Equality in education, synchronous enrolment policy and housing prices of school districts: Based on the experience of Hangzhou

Abstract

Housing is the major way for Hangzhou residents to access public primary and secondary education resources. The implementation of educational equalization policies will impact housing prices, especially school district housing prices. This paper focuses on the synchronous enrollment policy, which requires both public and private schools to enroll students simultaneously, thus changing the enrollment strategies for students and parents. Using the 2019 implementation of the synchronous enrollment policy in Hangzhou primary schools as a natural experiment, the difference-in-differences and quantile regression models were employed to estimate the capitalization of this policy and its heterogeneity. The results indicate that the policy leads to an appreciation of school district housing prices, with a stronger effect on the housing prices of elite public school districts. To achieve educational equalization, the government must formulate supporting policies to ensure internal balance in public schools and simultaneously create sufficient high-quality educational resources.