Housing Tenure of Older Asian Minorities in Hong Kong

Abstract

One of the major motivations to pursue dreams in a host country is to have a better living, especially for later-life well-being. Since homeownership is an indicator of social status, integration and security, this paper examines the housing tenure of older Asian minorities in an Asian global city. This article compares the housing tenure of older Asian minority immigrants with that of natives and their likelihood of living in public rental units, subsidized sales flats or private housing. While 28.95% and 18.38% of natives were living in public rental housing and subsidized sales flats respectively, the corresponding shares for Asian minorities stood at 34.84% and 19.38%. After controlling for personal characteristics, Asian minorities have the highest likelihood of living in public housing. Among the immigrant population, Asian minorities were more likely to be living in public housing but less likely to be owner-occupiers. The public housing policy of Hong Kong treats natives and immigrants equally. As private housing owner-occupiers enjoy a higher social status, most Asian minorities were not very successful in climbing the social ladder. However, they can stay in affordable public rental housing which enables them a reasonable later-life well-being in the least affordable city. To win in this global war for talent, the government is encouraged to introduce more measures to attract international talent.