A New Perspective on the Settlement Intentions of Migrants in China: Financial Support for Housing

Abstract

The factors affecting migrants’ settlement in host cities have been widely discussed, but the impact of housing financial support is still under exploration. This paper explores the effect of the Housing Provident Fund (HPF), which is a highly debated but markedly important housing financial policy in China, on migrants’ settlement intentions. Based on data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS), our results reveal that the HPF significantly improves migrants’ settlement intentions by increasing housing purchase intentions. The robustness test results further show that expanding the coverage of the HPF has a positive effect on urbanization. However, we highlight the conflict between the HPF effects and its specific impact on differentiated levels of coverage. We further discuss its potential challenges, describe a pilot study of a voluntary HPF in China, and offer recommendations for urban reform.