70% of Chinese 'millennials' are homeowners

A survey by HSBC found that 70% of “millennials” on the mainland owned their own home, compared with 35% in the United States and 31% in Britain, the South China Morning Post reports. Some 9,000 people were polled in nine countries aged between 19 and 36. The high rate of home ownership among younger Chinese could be due to the cultural value placed in owning your own property, relatively high incomes for young people, or the one-child policy allowing parents to devote resources to one offspring, according to analysts. Despite skyrocketing housing prices in major Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, many smaller Chinese cities are still affordable for young people. Some young Chinese people can earn higher incomes in second and third-tier cities and then buy cheaper properties in their smaller home towns.