How does the COVID-19 pandemic affect housing prices in China?

COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan in late December 2019, and then spread throughout China, which has had great influence on many aspects of the economy. This paper uses the two-way fixed effects model to investigate the non-linear relationship between the death toll of COVID-19 and the changes in housing prices using monthly panel data from November 2019 to May 2020. The results suggest that there is a U-shaped relationship between monthly death toll of COVID-19 and the percentage changes of housing prices in cities. In addition, the housing markets of New First-tier cities are more sensitive to the COVID-19 pandemic than Second and Third-tier cities, which the pandemic has had little effect on. Similarly, monthly confirmed cases of COVID-19 come to the same conclusions.