- 期刊
Accessibility to Homeownership in Urban China: An Empirical Study of Borrower Characteristics and the Housing Provident Fund
摘要
Accessibility to loans for house purchases in urban China is problematic. A better understanding of the underlying factors that impact homeownership and borrowers' demographics would likely assist the government in its efforts to develop policies that enhance accessibility to loans generally, and housing providence funds (HPF) particularly . This study may enhance a government's ability to address equity issues arising from efforts to control housing markets. To address the issue, this study develops and estimates a probit model of whether homeownership could be promoted by participation in HPF program, with a focus on factors that influence the use of HPF loans. Our findings suggest that people with longer histories of employment, higher monthly income, married households and households with children are more likely to access credit and therefore to own a house. Our analysis also shows that duration of employment and respondents' monthly contribution to their HPF account are significantly related to HPF loan use for homeownership. These borrower demographics are thus significantly related to loan accessibility. Our findings also show that HPF fund does not contribute to a significant increase in homeownership. JEL Classification: G10, G20, G21.