ABSTRACT
Unaffordable housing is a topical social issue in urban China, in particular in metropolitan areas and large cities. The ability of the Chinese housing system to shelter urban residents, or even just the productive labour force, is under serious criticism (Zou: 2014). Housing system reforms as well as short-term responsive measures have been introduced in the past several years to tackle the public pressure on increasingly unaffordable housing. However, policy changes seem to have not been able to quiet down the public outcry for more affordable housing (Gao et al.: 2014).
