The chain effects of property-led redevelopment in Shenzhen: Price-shadowing and indirect displacement

Abstract

Many Chinese cities are undergoing large-scale property-led redevelopment, which can result in both direct and indirect residential displacement. Although a number of studies on direct displacement have been carried out, insights into the mechanisms underlying indirect displacement are lacking. The present research investigated property-led redevelopment in Shenzhen and the induced chain effects of price-shadowing and indirect residential displacement. It was found that property-led urban redevelopment exhibits strong effects of price-shadowing on adjacent housing prices by creating property hot spots and bringing about changes in the housing market. A multilevel hedonic model quantitatively confirmed the price-shadowing effect of urban redevelopment, by showing that perceived or actual redevelopment increases housing prices in the vicinity. Interviews with residents of neighbourhoods adjacent to three typical redevelopment projects revealed that redevelopment-induced indirect displacement is closely related to rising property values and that residents suffer from both exclusionary displacement and displacement pressure. Residential displacement in China has gone beyond forced eviction and has taken on more indirect and latent forms. Property-led urban redevelopment is a key catalyst for this.