Gender differences in the housing decisions of married-couple families: evidence from urban China

This paper investigates the role of gender of the household decision maker in the housing decisions of married-couple families. Using data across urban China from the China Labour-force Dynamic Survey during 2012–2016, the paper shows that married-couple families with female decision makers have higher rates of homeownership. We infer that housing provides more psychological and financial security for women than men. In addition, female decision makers tend to buy smaller houses and have higher returns on housing assets, which could be caused by the fact that female decision makers are more concerned about the members of their nuclear family, especially their kids. The main results are robust to control for the effects of the socioeconomic status of household members. These findings aid in understanding the role of gender in the housing market and offer guidance for better policies to boost a more efficient housing supply.