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In the past two decades, migrants' homeownership has received increasing attention, as migrants have become increasingly heterogeneous in terms of socio‐economic status and choice of the destination city. However, how migrants move across the urban hierarchy and thereby affect their housing consumption has received scant attention. Using the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, this study examines the relationship between migrants' socio‐economic status and their geographic mobility along the urban hierarchy, as well as the impacts on their housing outcomes in the destination city. Employing generalised structural equation modelling, the results show that migrants with higher education levels and higher family income are more likely to make an upward movement, through which they accumulated their capital and advantages to overcome difficulties and settle in the destination. However, the steeper they climb along the urban hierarchy, the less likely they could own a home in the destination city. This study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the divergence in migrants' geographic mobility and its importance in understanding the variegated housing outcomes among the migration population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature has uncovered housing divergence between migrants and locals in urban China, but has neglected the increasing diversity of migrants' places of origin and its association with their housing opportunities. Based on a survey on the post-80s generation in Shanghai, this paper investigates the impact of residents' place of origin on their housing outcomes. The results suggest that access to homeownership is a function of the position of an individual's place of origin in the urban hierarchy. Shanghai locals are the most advantaged, followed by migrants from other centrally administered municipalities, provincial capitals and other cities at a higher position in the urban hierarchy. Migrants from market towns and rural areas, especially in underdeveloped regions, have inferior housing tenures and are shunned from homeownership. It implies that regional inequality is not fixed geographically but accompanies people's mobility. Similar to the concept of social origin, this paper elaborates on geographical origin and its role in the reproduction of social inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous housing studies have primarily focused on the differences in homeownership between local residents and the floating population. However, the increasing proportion of new residents has been largely overlooked. Furthermore, the 'snapshot' approach focusing on homeownership transitions overlooks the multiple and shifting housing states over the life course. Based on survey data collected in Nanjing, this study analyses the differences in housing careers among local residents, new citizens, and the floating population using sequence analysis, and examines the underlying factors using a multinomial logistic regression model. The results indicate that local residents enjoy a distinct advantage in their housing careers, achieving homeownership earlier. Although the floating population and new citizens typically start in rental housing, their housing trajectories diverge over time. New citizens are more likely to achieve upward housing careers, whereas the floating population is more likely to be 'trapped' in rental housing. These disparities intensify across age cohorts which can be traced to broader changes in the housing system. This study provides a temporal lens for understanding housing inequality and emphasises the significance of the floating population in overcoming the limitations of the hukou system and housing market through efforts to achieve upward housing careers. • Examining housing careers offers a more comprehensive and temporal lens for understanding housing inequality. • Local residents enjoy a distinct advantage in their housing careers, achieving homeownership earlier. • Though floating population and new citizens often start in rental housing, their housing trajectories diverge over time. • Disparities among these groups reveal how ascribed and achieved factors have shaped housing inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]