BUYING a housing in the next three years is the aim of 40 percent of respondents in a survey by Shanghai?s statistics bureau, with those in their 20s and 30s expressing the strongest desire.
Nearly 50 percent planned to buy a house to upgrade their living standards while about 20 percent would do so for marriage, the survey found.
Families with higher incomes and those without permanent residence were more inclined to consider home purchases.
But the survey also found a more prevalent wait-and-see attitude with about 48 percent of respondents having no plans to buy in the next three years, compared to the 38 percent in a 2011 survey.
However, only 11 percent said they had no plans to buy a house, down from 2011?s 22 percent.
More than 71 percent of respondents would allocate a budget of no more than 2 million yuan (US$325,335) for their home, according to the online survey of 2,778 local residents.
About 81 percent of the respondents were permanent residents and 76 percent were 40 years old or younger.
About 48 percent of respondents said their families earned between 100,000 yuan and 200,000 yuan a year, with 35 percent having an annual household annual income of less than 100,000 yuan.