Are migrants willing to pay more for better housing? The amenity effect in China's urban housing markets

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of urban amenities on migrant housing choices. It firstly constructs a novel urban amenity level (UAL) index spanning multiple amenity categories across 286 Chinese cities. Using data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey in 2011–2018 merged with municipal statistics, empirical results reveal that a destination city's UAL exerts a significantly positive effect on migrants' housing payments. A one standard deviation increase in UAL contributes to a 0.413 standard deviation rise in housing costs, indicating migrants' willingness to pay for urban amenities. Further analysis uncovers three fundamental mechanisms: the expectation effect, the accessibility effect, and the social integration effect. Migrants' stronger settlement intention and social integration amplify the amenity impact on their housing payments, whereas a high entry threshold to the local housing market increases migrants' housing affordability stress. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that the amenity effect varies by amenity type, hukou status, region, and human capital. The findings offer policy implications, including enhancing amenities to upgrade dwelling conditions, mitigating housing access barriers, and focusing more on vulnerable migrant workers and regional disparity. This study provides a new perspective on migrants' housing choices and the effects of gaps in urban amenity intensity on housing behavior.