Cross-over points have emerged, as China's real housing price indexes turned flat and lowered than those soaring lines of Canada and U.S. after the pandemic. To see it in a decade-long period, the real housing price indexes in China have increased more than France and Japan, but less than in North American countries from 2012 to 2021.

When Americans saw home prices and mortgage rates soar to record highs, along with demand rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of them found it very challenging to purchase homes. In May 2022, the home ownership rate in U.S. only reached 65.4 percent, but the housing affordability index has dropped to the lowest level since 2006.

Nevertheless, China's housing accessibility shows a good signal of increase. From 2010 to 2021, overall home ownership rate in this country has risen from 85 percent to over 90 percent. So, what made it possible?

The credit can be attributed to high disposable income growth. According to statistics from 2010 to 2021, the annual disposable income per capita had nearly tripled from 12,520 RMB to 35,128 RMB, while over the same period the average commercial house price per square meter had only doubled. This difference makes it easier for Chinese to purchase homes, when disposable income grows faster than housing prices.

Additionally, the lowered mortgage rate is a significant contributor. Since 2012, the Central Bank in China has cut the mortgage rate from 6 percent to 4.3 percent, the lowest on record, thereby reducing burdens on prospective Chinese home buyers.

Actually, many policies are friendly to those who have little houses, since central government says “houses are for living in and not for speculation” in 2016. The housing market in the past ten years have witnessed a turning point, and more Chinese homeowners realize that the bubble in real estate will not be allowed to expand forever, and have to diversify their investments.

Ever since the last quarter of 2020, the proportion of property investments in Chinese households' wealth accumulation has decreased from about 70 percent to 60 percent, while that of financial investments has risen from about 20 percent to 30 percent.

Contrary to many countries with housing prices soaring during the pandemic, China's housing market has been cooled in this decade after decades of breakneck growths, especially during COVID-19 pandemic.

More Chinese families can afford to buy homes, which in turn can lead to a healthier housing market in China for generations to come.

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