Journal of the Korean Housing Association ISSN:2234-3571(Print) 2234-2257(Online) 한국주거학회논문집

According to aging society and social network society, the necessary of suitable alternative housing in the era has been increasing. The purpose of this research is to understand housing preference depended on the social relation of the elderly who lives in Beijing, China. The social relation was comprised of contact degree with child, contact degree with friend, contact degree with relative, degree of community participation, satisfaction with spouse and satisfaction with child. The housing preference was comprised of housing ownership, housing location, housing size and housing type. The survey was conducted on the elderly of 150 above fifties who lived in Beijing, China. For the result, the social relation was associated with the housing preference. Particularly, the relationship between the children was related to the housing ownership, housing location and housing size. The relationship between friends was related to the housing type. The level of community participation was related to the housing location. Social independence of the elderly, family cohesion, community attachment and adaption tendency were correlated with the housing preference. In conclusion, it was empirically identified that the social relation of the elderly had a relation with predicting housing preference. This result is expected to be useful in development of housing for the elderly in the future.