Homeownership attainment of adult children in urban China: parental attributes and financial support

Abstract

Soaring homeownership and housing prices have made it more difficult for newcomers to climb the housing ladder without parental support. This study relies on China Household Finance Survey microdata in 2015 to examine the role of parental attributes (PA) and financial support on adult children’s homeownership attainment. Results show that, after controlling for covariates, parental lending for housing would triple the adult children’s odds of homeownership. Parental financial support plays a marginal role in maintaining homeownership. Adult children are more likely to transfer income to their parents than to receive, which is detrimental to the adult children’s homeownership. The relative importance of PA is secondary to that of parental support and the adult children’s institutional attributes—hukou status and access to housing provident fund. While the housing market is maturing, some advantages embedded in the socialist institutional arrangements have persisted. Young adults and rural migrants, who are burdened by financially supporting their parents, will struggle more in their housing careers.