‘Generation Share’ versus ‘Generation Rent’: Analysing the spatial preferences of shared rental housing

A growing number of young adults are choosing to live in private rental housing and sharing with unknown individuals in order to reduce their housing expenses. However, young housing sharers are generally treated as homogeneous to other renters in academic research and policy formation, leaving some of their unique housing issues unaddressed. This study examines how young housing sharers differ from their counterparts living in conventional or unshared rental housing. More specifically, we compare the spatial preferences of housing sharers to the spatial preferences of conventional housing renters, using a unique dataset of over 0.8 million private rental housing records collected in Shanghai, China. The results using a revealed-preference approach based on a hedonic pricing model demonstrate significant differences in their preference for location characteristics. Housing sharers are more willing to pay for proximity to employment centres and metro stations than conventional housing renters. Following the outbreak of Covid-19, the difference has narrowed to some extent, and housing sharers have moved further from employment centres. Rather, housing sharers are less concerned about access to public and private service amenities. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of the recent housing tenure shift toward sharing among the younger generation and its potential impact on age-related segmentation in the housing market.