Earlier quoted context omitted.
"tend to be less religious" That is what I have heard too, but family/society patterns tend to linger for a generation or two after the religiosity has subsided. Czechia, where I live, has only about 13 per cent of self-declared Christians, but the main Christian holidays such as Easter and Christmas are still almost universally observed. The trace is still strong, even though the religious core has mostly evaporated…
Yeah I totally acknowledge cultural aspects associated with religion live on. Of course your family has to have a place to invite the family in anyways, which they may or may not be able to afford the code house. Corruption is another factor at play, but they can be confounding factors. This is evident when you see even SELF-BUILT homes often have to follow codes -- what is the owner supposed to be defrauding himself…
CZ has about 78 per cent home ownership, China has 88. I am not sure whether the difference is so significant; it may reflect underlying differences in population migration (e.g. a lot of young Czechs go study to the traditional universities in Prague, Brno or Olomouc that are far from their family homes and obviously rent their rooms while there; maybe Chinese youngsters mostly study in their own city). We also have about 7 per cent of foreigners who are often transient and don't feel the need to buy any real estate; China doesn't.