Twenty-plus years of reform have brought about a highly complex system of housing tenure in urban China. Although the traditional work unit housing under rental occupancy remains the dominating tenure mode, an increasing number of urban households have become owners under various forms of subsidized homeownership. The author analyzes data derived from a survey conducted in 1996 of movers to newly completed “commodity housing” in Beijing and Guangzhou. Findings show that despite the many attempts at privatization and commodification, private housing in Beijing has become almost nonexistent. In Guangzhou, the open-market sector is better developed, and a sizable number of households have opted to move from subsidized to nonsubsidized housing. The findings also reveal that although the direction of movement is significantly related to the current tenure, it is unrelated to whether the move involves a change in tenure status.
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