Housing Problems in Chinese Urban Areas, Using Wuhan as a Case Study

Housing affordability has long been a key concern of housing policies and it has been one of the most important issues in the Chinese society in recent years when housing price is soaring and housing affordability has been deteriorating. Therefore a question raised here is that how people make housing choices under this situation-suffering from housing affordability problem or making trade-offs between housing affordability problem and other aspects of housing problems? Using results of a questionnaire survey on people who have applied for affordable housing purchasing certificates in Wuhan, China, this paper first analyses housing problems people are experiencing currently. It then explores factors responsible for the problem from the perspective of people's housing consumption preferences and obstacles to fulfilling their housing demands in reality.