A Review of the Development, Impact and Trends of China’s Land Grant System over the Past Decade

Abstract

China’s real estate economy has advanced rapidly since the 1990s tax-sharing reform, generating substantial local fiscal revenues and offering sustained impetus to numerous derivative industries. However, the collapse of the real estate economy has prompted significant societal reflection, leading to the gradual diminishment of property’s role as an economic driver in China. This paper reviews scholarly research on property marketisation over the past decade, aiming to analyse historical data and examine the systemic impacts of real estate policies: driving urbanisation and infrastructure development, enhancing urban planning management standards, and addressing irregularities in tenant-landlord relationships. It further offers reasoned projections for the sector’s future trajectory, providing practical guidance for optimising property market development. This paper is structured into five sections, comprehensively examining the themes of “institutional evolution,” “marketisation impacts,” “government regulation,” and “development trends.” Key research implications emerge in three dimensions: institutionally, the government must strengthen dynamic adjustments, further refine land transaction and property rights systems, enhance risk early-warning mechanisms, and standardise lending, transfer fees, and financing to balance interests between urban and rural areas, as well as among cities of varying scales. At the market level, efforts should focus on optimising the rational allocation of resources, directing land resources towards high-quality development and affordable housing, eliminating substandard property developers, and safeguarding public welfare. Finally, at the policy level, further progress should be made in advancing real estate tax reform to gradually reduce the burden of property-driven urban economic growth.