Housing Wealth Differentiation Among Urban Residents in China from the Perspective of Spatial Structure

Since the beginning of the 21st century, with the deepening of housing marketization and financialization, housing has surpassed income as the primary component of wealth for urban households in China, becoming a major driver of wealth growth. Using 2019 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) data, this study examines housing wealth inequality from both “static” and “dynamic” lenses. Unlike previous research that mainly focused on institutional and market factors, this study centers on spatial structural factors, revealing the intricate relationship between geographic space and housing wealth accumulation. The findings indicate significant disparities in both housing wealth and appreciation rates across different levels of the urban hierarchy. Large cities play a critical role in housing wealth growth, functioning as “escalator regions” that offer higher investment returns and enable rapid accumulation of housing wealth. Furthermore, this study identifies two pathways driving housing wealth and appreciation. First, the degree of urban marketization significantly influences housing price growth, indirectly boosting both housing wealth and appreciation rates. Second, the development index of the housing provident fund affects the use of housing loans, thereby shaping housing wealth inequality. These results highlight space as a critical resource in housing wealth differentiation and provide deeper insights into the spatial foundations of housing wealth inequality, underscoring the significance of opportunity structures shaped by spatial context.