Housing increases Happiness: Investment Attribute or Residential Attribute?
ZHANG Xiang, LI Lunyi, CHAI Chengsen, MA Shuang
School of Finance / School of Economics, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics; School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
Abstract:
This paper uses China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) 2011 to investigate how the homeownership impacts on people’s happiness. The paper finds that: first, homeownership improves the subjective happiness mainly by its residential attribute, but not by its investment attribute. The subsample of those with only one house obtains the same conclusion. Second, for the subsample of those with more than one house, homeownership improves the subjective happiness by neither its residential attribute nor its investment attribute. Third, when the ownership of the present-living-house is taken into the consideration, the homeownership cannot improve the happiness any more.
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