Mobility restrictions and their implications on the rental housing market during the COVID-19 pandemic in China's large cities

Tian Li; Xia Jing; Ouyang Wei; Liang Yinlong; Liu Jinxuan; Li Yongfu; Wan Li; Jin Ying; Xu Weipan; Ma Yaotian; Du Yifan

doi:10.1016/j.cities.2022.103712

Mobility restrictions and their implications on the rental housing market during the COVID-19 pandemic in China's large cities

Cities. 2022 Jul:126:103712. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2022.103712. Epub 2022 Apr 29.

Authors

Tian Li¹, Xia Jing², Ouyang Wei³, Liang Yinlong¹, Liu Jinxuan¹, Li Yongfu⁴, Wan Li⁵, Jin Ying⁶, Xu Weipan⁷, Ma Yaotian⁸, Du Yifan¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Urban Planning, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
² College of Architecture and Art, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui, China.
³ School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100081, China.
⁴ School of Architecture, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Department of Land Economy, Cambridge University, UK.
⁶ School of Architecture, Cambridge University, UK.
⁷ School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
⁸ Department of Architecture, Cambridge University, UK.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant mobility restrictions and generated profound impacts on global socio-economic development. Mobility restrictions can generate significant impacts on the demand and supply sides of the rental housing market. By taking 77 large Chinese cities as cases, this research establishes a stepwise mediation effect test to evaluate the impacts of the pandemic on the rental housing market during Q1 2020. The results show that the confirmed cases were negatively associated with rental unit transactions, and the inter-city and intra-city movement played a significant role of mediating effects. Meanwhile, the impact of pandemic on rents lagged behind rental transaction in China's large cities, and the strict mobility controls caused the high vacancy rate of rental housing, leading to the bankruptcy of many housing rental agencies. Our research add to the burgeoning literature examining the mediating effect of mobility control between confirmed case and housing rental market. It demonstrates that the change of housing rental market induced by pandemic in China is the short-term influence on rental unit transaction, which is different from western countries. In China, a country with the most strict mobility control, the challenges come from the impact of pandemic on housing rental agencies.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; China; Large cities; Mobility restriction; Rental housing market.