Chinese housing not for profit? – impact for public finance

Zhilin Liu

Chapter 18 in Handbook of Public Finance in China, 2026, pp 406-424 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter analyses how affordable housing has been financed in China. China's urban housing policy has undergone a significant shift in the past two decades, moving away from the pro-market, pro-homeownership approach of the 1990s to ensuring ‘decent housing for all’ through various affordable housing programmes. Implementation poses substantial financial challenges at both central and local levels, however. The chapter explores how the early decentralised approach, combined with land-based urban public finance, impacted the local implementation of affordable housing programmes. Next, it examines the central government measures adopted during the 2010s to restructure public finance for affordable housing. Despite such efforts, a range of financing challenges have persisted. The chapter concludes with some ideas of the possible public finance reforms that need to be put in place to achieve the goal of ‘housing not for profit’ in the future.

Keywords: Housing policy; Affordable housing; Public finance; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035311705
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