China Is Likely First Country to Reach 96% Urban Home Ownership, PBOC Says
(Yicai Global) April 27 -- China may be the first country in the world to have reached a 96 percent urban home ownership rate, according to the central bank.
In an article the People’s Bank of China published in its China Finance journal today it also noted that the bulk of assets held by urban families is physical.
Home ownership in developed countries is mostly around the 60 percent level, according to data from Trading Economics. In the US, the figure was 65.1 percent at the end of last year, US Department of Commerce statistics show. The PBOC report puts China’s home ownership 28.5 percentage points ahead of the US.
The reports also said Chinese urban households prefer risk-free financial assets, with homes making up nearly 70 percent and financial assets 20.4 percent.
The average wealth of urban households is CNY3.18 million (USD449,200), with a median value of CNY1.63 million, per the report. The difference between the two is about CNY1.55 million, indicating an uneven distribution of household assets.
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Young people working in big cities tend to buy homes in smaller inland cities.