Housing wealth status and informal accumulation of rural villages at the rural-urban fringe in Shanghai, China

Abstract

Housing wealth among urban residents has been a hotspot issue, but there is a dearth of literature focusing on rural housing wealth. Using housing registration data in Shanghai, this study examines the status and accumulation of rural housing wealth at the rural-urban fringe. Results show that rural housing wealth at the rural-urban fringe is characterized by high stock and frequent extension and reconstruction dominated by auxiliary houses. Rural housing wealth is still relatively equitable, but compared to their initial housing wealth distribution, disparities in urban villages or suburban villages are obviously higher than in the outer suburbs. These disparities are mainly driven by the expansion and reconstruction of rural auxiliary houses, typically the horizontal expansion of auxiliary homes. We suggest that defining explicit construction rules for rural auxiliary will help to avoid the disorder increase in illegal housing and, subsequently, rural housing wealth disparity.