Advertisement

Chinese buying first homes too early, study warns

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
A woman walks past a wall bearing an image of Beijing's skyscrapers outside a construction site for a new residential complex in Beijing June 18, 2013. Photo: Reuters

Chinese homeowners buy their first homes too early and the homes are too large, the Academy of Social Sciences has warned in a report.

Advertisement

Concerns over future increases in house prices were driving young urban Chinese to buy their first homes “too soon”, thus worsening housing shortages in China’s hubs, the Academy wrote in its annual report on the state of the nation’s real estate market.

The average Chinese city dweller takes on their first mortgage at the age of 27, far earlier than their counterparts overseas, according to a 2010 study by Everbright Bank.

The average first-time home buyer in Canada is 29 years old, according to a study by the Bank of Montreal published in April, while in Britain, the average age is 35, according to a survey by Post Office Mortgages published in September last year.

Another factor influencing first-time buyers was traditional pressure on couples to own their own homes before they got married, the report argued. Despite a rise in “naked marriages” between those who don’t own houses and cars, the longing for “a sense of security” pushed people to buy homes early.

Advertisement

The growing trend of home ownership at a young age was one of several problems identified in the annual survey, which could force some cities to “confront the risk of real estate bubbles”, the think tank said.

loading
Advertisement