Parental Dependency and Costly Offspring: Housing and Fertility of Young Adults in China's Large City

ABSTRACT Young adults in large cities are experiencing serious livelihood challenges, notably precarious employment, housing difficulties, and diminished fertility intention. Existing research on the interplay between fertility and housing has yet to fully capture the intergenerational dynamics. This study utilised questionnaires and in‐depth interviews conducted in a typical China's large city, Guangzhou, to examine the associations between the housing condition and the fertility intention of young adults, across different types of parental support, that is, ‘without parental support’, ‘stay at parents' home’, ‘support renting’, ‘support for partial down payment and/or mortgage’ and ‘support for full payment of homeownership’. Findings indicate that the housing condition significantly and positively associates with the fertility intention, but only for those without parental support or receiving support for partial down payment and/or mortgage. A comparative analysis across the five parental support categories reveals that, the association between the housing condition and the fertility intention is significantly stronger for the group ‘support for partial down payment and/or housing mortgage’ compared to those ‘without parental support’, ‘staying at parents' home’ and receiving ‘support for full payment of homeownership’. This study highlights the cost–utility dynamics of housing, the intergenerational wealth flows, and the gender strategic interactions as crucial underlying mechanisms.