It is certain that the housing conditions are greatly improved in both quantity and quality compared to 20 years ago. The Chinese real estate has developed more than ten years, as the developed regulations as well as the supporting construction of economically affordable housing and low-cost housing, it is no doubt that the Chinese housing will continue developing in a smooth and healthy pace.  

 

1. Related Laws of Land and Housing in China

According to the laws, land in the cities is owned by the state, and land in the rural and suburban areas is own by collectives except for those portions which belong to the state; house sites and privately farmed plots of cropland and hilly land are also owned by collectives. Land can only be transferred in line with laws and land sales are illegal in China.

There are mainly three kinds of housings in China, the house with proprietary rights, the house with using rights and the house without any proprietary rights and using rights. For the first kind, the owner has the ownership and management of the house that the house can be rent, sell, mortgage, present and inherit. Housing with using rights can not be managed by the owner but may only be rent in accordance with legal procedures. The third kind housing is generally built by the government, official organs or enterprises that rent to the staffs or low income groups without rentals or with few rentals.

Now, more and more commodity houses are built for sale; though most of them are with proprietary rights, the ownership is limited in a time; end of the course, the right to use the land will be owned by the state and buildings on the land are also taken back. Generally, the longest ownership of a land is the residential construction land with 70 years, while for industrial estate and comprehensive use land, it is 50 years, and commercial land and other land for service is limited in 40 years. According to the revise of the Property Law, the ownership of residential construction land can be renewed automatically with a sum of money, while the renewal of the non-residential land should be transacted in line with the laws.

2. The Current Situations of Chinese Housing

The housing in China before 1980 is distributed by the government as a necessary of life as well as a benefit. Since 1980, there is a tentative reform in the housing system that the public housings are sold to the personal; while the formal reform of the housing system is in effect in late 1990s that the commodity houses are rapidly developing with some famous real estate developers. Now, to buy a commodity house is the main way to get a house in China, though the price is currently a little high for many people. There is no doubt that the supply-demand relationship contributed to price rise.