Access to homeownership in urban China: A comparison between skilled migrants and skilled locals in Nanjing

Radical economic restructuring has resulted in a large flow of skilled migrants into ever-expanding Chinese cities in the past decade. Dreaming of owning a home in the destination city, skilled migrants compete with locals on the housing market. It is important to know how and when people acquire their home and, by the same token, what prevents others from doing so. Based on the life histories of 804 skilled workers in Nanjing and employing event-history analysis, this paper examines the differences in the timing of entry into homeownership between skilled migrants and their local counterparts and identifies the factors in parallel life course careers that contribute to these differences. Results show a delayed but accelerated increase in the homeownership rate for skilled migrants, indicating an assimilation process. Migrants' later entry into homeownership can be attributed foremost to the limited intergenerational transmission of wealth, while restricted knowledge about the local housing market and later partnership also play a role. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the timing of entry into homeownership is largely determined by the availability of financial resources and progression in the life course rather than institutional factors. •Skilled migrants lag behind skilled locals in entering into homeownership.•Intergenerational wealth transfer is largely responsible for the time difference.•Inequity is reproduced between generations through intergenerational transfer.•An assimilation process in homeownership has been observed for skilled migrants.•Market rather than institutional factors are decisive in housing consumption.