Real Estate Attributes, Income Gap and Change Trend of Housing Prices

Abstract

Previous studies on the relationship between income gap and housing prices pay little attention to the dual features of real estate,namely consumption and investment.From the perspective of dual attributes of real estate,this paper firstly theoretically explains the dynamic relationship between income gap and housing prices.The results show that in the stage of low-level economic development,consumption attribute of real estate dominates and the widening income gap curbs rising housing prices.With further development of the economy,the single attribute of real estate is not obvious,and the changes in income gap do not have the significant effect on housing prices.In the stage of high-level economic development,the investment attribute of real estate dominates and the widening income gap promotes rising housing prices.Further empirical study of theoretical results indicates that as a whole there is no significant correlation between income gap and housing prices in China and the single attribute is not obvious.But in terms of inter provincial differences in the level of economic development,the income gap causes rising housing prices in developed provinces,and inhibits rising housing prices in underdeveloped provinces.As the time goes on,the role of income inequality in housing prices transfers from curbing to promoting.