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When Cash Unlocks Mobility: China’s Shantytown Renovation Program and the Housing Markets

Zhiguo He, Zehao Liu, Xinle Pang, Yang Su, Kunru Zou, Jul 08, 2026

The household finance literature typically ignores household migration decisions and how such decisions interact with financial conditions. We find that a relaxation of borrowing constraints can facilitate household migration to higher-tier cities where borrowing constraints are more binding than in cities of origin. Such endogenous location upgrading amplifies the increase in household housing expenditures following the relaxation of borrowing constraints, as well as intercity home price disparities.