Navigating Housing in New York City: Understanding international student housing market

• In Event: Open Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 11: Immigration, Legal Status, and Incorporation

Abstract

This study examines how Chinese-speaking international students navigate the rental housing market in New York City (NYC), focusing on how interactions between Chinese-speaking international students, modern co-ethnic housing intermediaries, and new luxury rental apartment developers shape international students’ housing search strategies and outcomes. International students face significant challenges due to strict rental regulations, income and guarantor requirements, and unfamiliarity with the local housing market. Using semi-structured interviews with 10 participants—including students and housing agents—this research investigates why students select specific housing types and search strategies, how the role of modern co-ethnic agents and developers involved in this process, and what are the consequences of these choices. Findings indicate that interactions between different actors and structural conditions largely shape the economic process/ outcomes and social dynamic. The interplay between student demand, intermediary practices, and developer strategies significantly shapes Chinese-speaking international students’ housing search strategies, the housing market, and their housing outcomes in NYC. These economic processes and outcomes also influence immigrant integration, rental segregation, and neighborhood racial dynamics in New York City.

Author

• Shuhao Chang, CUNY-Graduate Center