The Influence of Housing Purchase Restrictions on Consumer Expenditure

Abstract

Since 2024, there have been significant adjustments in housing purchase restriction policies, with many cities completely abolishing or optimizing these measures. As one of the key measures used by the Chinese government to regulate the real estate market, it is important to consider whether housing purchase restriction policies affect consumer spending among residents and what pathways this influence might be. On the basis of panel data from prefecture-level cities in China from 2008--2013, this thesis employs the method of multiperiod difference-in-differences to empirically study the impact and mechanism of the “first round” of housing purchase restriction policies on consumer spending. The results indicate that the implementation of housing purchase restriction policies helps increase consumer spending by residents, and research on regional heterogeneity reveals that the promotion of these policies is more evident in eastern China. On the basis of the results of the empirical analysis, this thesis proposes relevant policy recommendations: the government needs to comprehensively consider various factors and adopt more refined and targeted regulatory measures to achieve healthy development of both the real estate market and the consumer market.