A description of the work (Abstract): With the fastest urbanization process, Chinese cities have experienced extraordinary housing development and marketization, resulting in a significant shift in housing consumption. However, over time, housing inequality has increased significantly, especially among different socio-economic groups. This dissertation used 2017 Chinese General Social Survey data to explore the underlying factors of housing inequality and interaction relationships with other types of inequality (e.g., occupational inequality, income inequality, wealth inequality and intergenerational inequality and so on). The findings suggest that in the current privatized and commodified housing market, socioeconomic status, such as education, gender and age would have a significant effect on housing choice and lead to housing inequalities. Furthermore, this dissertation uses a case study of Beijing to explore the change of underlying causes from a historical perspective. In China, the real estate market experienced three stages, which are socialistic allocation stage (before 1998), privatization stage – market-based housing reform (1999-2008) and housing price booming stage (2009-2021). In the pre-reform era, political status was the primary driver of housing inequality. With the establishment of a privatized and commodified housing market following reform, some political drivers such as political position and work unit have a diminishing impact on housing decisions, whereas hukou remain a lasting effect on housing market. These findings support market transmission theory and power persistence theory, implying that the political system and market mechanism are both influencing the housing market at the same time. These findings point policymakers in the right direction for implementing more targeted measures to promote sustainable development in metropolitan areas.