Quasi-Experimental Evidence of a School Equalization Reform on Housing Prices in Beijing

Abstract

Abstract This study examines the effect of a reasonably exogenous school equalization reform in Beijing on housing values. Based on sales records of secondhand housing between 2012 and 2016 in four core urban districts in Beijing straddling the reform, the authors find that reform-induced improvement in school quality is on average associated with a 1.7% increase in housing prices. It takes more than one year for the effect to become noticeable and it intensifies to a 12% increase 24 months after the reform. Furthermore, heterogeneity effects analyses show that the effects tend to concentrate on housing units that are smaller and that are associated with stronger and lasting improvement in school quality. Our results, therefore, cast doubts on whether such school equalization reforms are beneficial to low socioeconomic status, cash-strapped families with improved educational opportunities in the Chinese context.