Household savings rates and housing prices in China—Based on cohort analysis

Abstract

Based on the perspective of cohort analysis, this paper examines the empirical relationship between housing prices and household savings rates in China by using family tracking survey data (CFPS) as sample. We find that the appreciation of housing prices can lead to household savings rates to decline, and changes in housing prices by 1 unit produce decreases in household savings rates by 2.2 units, the robust tests support our conclusions. The age curve of savings rates shows that the savings rates of the elder cohort is lower than that of the younger cohort, which is in accordance with life-cycle theory.