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The announcement
The room went hushed. Zhu quoted poetry as he spoke, and he sounded more assured than any Chinese official had sounded up to that point.
Ownership today
Today about 90 percent of urban households own their own property, and about 70 percent of the country's total household wealth is held in property. The total residential and commercial real estate stock is estimated to be worth roughly 42 trillion US dollars.
A new industry
Giving people use and ownership rights over property created a sector of real estate companies, almost all of them private, that built and sold housing from the 2000s onward.
How did Chinese housing work before 1998?
Before 1998, most urban housing was allocated by work units at very low rents. In July 1998 the State Council issued a notice ending the in-kind distribution of housing and calling for a market in which people buy homes. Many employees were able to buy the apartments they already lived in at subsidized prices. Housing provident funds, savings contributed by workers and employers, helped finance purchases.
How can people own property on state land?
Residential land in Chinese cities belongs to the state, so buyers receive land-use rights rather than the land itself. Under China's Property Law of 2007, residential land-use rights are granted for 70 years, and the law provides that they renew automatically when the term expires. National regulations set shorter terms for other uses, with 40 years for commercial land and 50 years for industrial land.
Why is so much household wealth in property?
Chinese households have had few other places to put savings: stock markets have swung widely, bank deposit rates have been regulated, and capital controls limit buying assets abroad. Property came to be seen as the safe holding. The China Household Finance Survey, run by Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, has found housing to be well over half of household assets.
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