In 2023, the average price of real estate in China was approximately 10,438 yuan per square meter, representing a decrease from the previous year. Rising prices in the real estate market Since the 1998 housing reform, property prices in China have been rising continuously. Housing in the country is now often unaffordable, especially considering the modest per capita income of Chinese households. Shanghai and Beijing even have some of the most competitive real estate markets in the world. The rapid growth in housing prices has increased wealth among homeowners, while it also led to a culture of speculation among buyers and real estate developers. Housing was treated as investments, with owners expecting the prices to grow further every year. Risk factors The expectation of a steadily growing real estate market has created a property bubble and a potential debt crisis. As Chinese real estate giants, such as China Evergrande and Country Garden, operate by continuously acquiring land plots and initiating new projects, which often require substantial loans and investments, a slowdown in property demands or a decline in home prices can significantly affect the financial situation of these companies, putting China’s banks in a vulnerable position. In addition, due to a lack of regulations and monetary constraints, the long-term maintenance issues of high-rise apartments are also a concern to the sustainable development of China’s cities.

Despite a slowdown in the country's economy, property prices remained relatively high across China in 2023. In Shanghai, the average prices for residential housing exceeded RMB 40,000 per square meter, making the metropolis one of the most expensive cities to live in globally. Meanwhile, many less developed regions, such as the provinces of Guizhou, Gansu, and Guangxi, had average housing prices below RMB 6,000 per square meter. High property prices in major cities The commodification of real estate in the 1990s led to a rapid rise in property prices across China over the last three decades. Between 1998 and 2023, average property prices in China rose more than four times to more than 10,000 RMB per square meter. The cost of housing in core areas of major urban centers such as Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing can often reach unaffordable levels, even for the middle class. Key drivers behind the housing price rise Due to the regional disparities in the country, China's rapid urbanization resulted in a high influx of internal migrants into its eastern cities, resulting in a short housing supply across many regions. At the same time, due to China's unique land and tax system, local governments are often highly dependent on land transfer revenues for their finances. As a result, many regional authorities tend to restrict the supply of available land in the market, further exacerbating property price rises across the country.

In 2022, the average price for residential real estate in Shenzhen was over 55.700 thousand yuan per square meter. This was the highest price among all major cities in China, with the average price across the country amounting to 17,359 yuan per square meter. A pillar of the Chinese economy China gradually abolished its welfare housing allocation system and liberalized its real estate market in the 1990s. In 2003, the government declared the real estate sector as one of the pillars of the Chinese economy. Thanks to the country's rapid economic development and urbanization, China's real estate market expanded significantly in the last two decades, with the sector accounting for about seven percent of China's GDP in 2022. Unaffordable in major urban centers While the real estate industry greatly contributed to the growth of China's economy, the housing market boom also created social issues and financial risks. In comparison to household income, property prices in major cities, most notably Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, are extraordinarily expensive for average citizens. Soaring housing prices have also led to a rapid division of wealth between homeowners and renters. At the same time, debt problems created by the rapid expansion of real estate companies and the high levels of debt accumulated by Chinese citizens have created serious potential hazards for China's financial system.

Key information about House Prices Growth

• China house prices dropped 4.1% YoY in Dec 2024, following a decrease of 4.8% YoY in the previous month.
• YoY growth data is updated monthly, available from Mar 1999 to Dec 2024, with an average growth rate of 7.4%.
• House price data reached an all-time high of 25.0% in Feb 2010 and a record low of -12.6% in Apr 1999.

The statistic shows the average real estate sale price of residential real estate in China between 2013 and 2023. In 2023, one square meter of real estate in China cost, on average 10,864 yuan.

In 2021, the average price of residential housing sold in Shanghai, the most important economic hub of China, surpassed 37,400 yuan per square meter, making the city one of the least affordable cities in the country. The housing market boom Since the housing reform in the 1990s, the prices of homes in Shanghai have increased almost every year, thanks to the growth of the city’s population and, thus, the high demands in the housing market. The high property prices gradually became out of reach for most residents, who earn an annual per capita income of only 172,000 yuan. Residential properties in the city center were especially unaffordable, as newly built homes located within Shanghai's inner ring road had an average price of 123,590 yuan in 2021, three times more expensive than their counterparts outside the outer ring road. Risks and interventions The high price not only made living in the city expensive for its residents, but also posed a grave risk to China’s financial system. In the first 20 years of this century, the total value of personal housing mortgage loans in Shanghai increased by more than 20 times, and defaults of any moderate scale can be consequential. Therefore, both the central and the municipal authorities had been attempting to curb the continuous rise of property costs in Shanghai, through the increase in the supply of housing stocks and policies limiting speculations in the market. However, most measures were not as effective as anticipated.

In 2022, the price for new residential property in Shanghai's inner ring dropped by more than 4,000 yuan per square meter, to 119,244 thousand yuan per square meter. Although the local authorities introduced policies to stabilize the market, the real estate market in Shanghai’s central districts remained under downward pressure, similar to those experienced by other major cities in China.

The most competitive real estate market in the country

Home prices in Shanghai are among the most expensive globally. The area within the city's inner ring road is certainly one of the most competitive real estate markets in all of China, with property prices nearly three times higher than those outside the outer ring road. Rising prices are far beyond the reach of ordinary residents, and the few who can afford to buy often have to take out substantial mortgages for their homes, resulting in a high proportion of real estate in their personal assets.

Challenges facing China’s real estate sector

The high level of indebtedness of the Chinese people and the bubbles in the country's real estate sector have become one of the major risks to China's economy. While developers expanded through continuous borrowing and the sale of off-plan properties to homebuyers, the market saw a significant excess of housing supply in most regions. There have also been instances in recent years where developers have had difficulties in completing construction projects or in repaying their loans or bonds. Addressing the risks in China's real estate sector, particularly in companies such as the Evergrande Group and Country Garden, has become an urgent task to ensure China's economic stability and prosperity.

In 2023, the average cost of office properties in China amounted to almost 14 thousand yuan per square meter. The price increased steeply since 2003 when the average price was below 4,200 yuan per square meter. However, the price rises in office properties did not match the dramatic development of the residential housing market, where average prices increased around 400 percent since 2000.

In 2023, with an average price reaching 46,783 yuan per square meter, Beijing had the most unaffordable residential housing market in China. The costs for housing were also high in eastern economic powerhouses, such as the municipalities of Shanghai and Tianjin, as well as the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Fujian. On average, the price for apartments in the country was 10,864 yuan per square meter in 2023.

In 2023, the average cost for properties for business purposes in China dropped slightly, to 10,422 yuan per square meter. The market saw steep price rises until around 2013 when the prices were generally stabilized. Business properties can be immensely expensive in China's major cities, especially in economic hubs like Beijing and Shanghai.

In 2023, the average price of properties for business purposes in Beijing surpassed 15 thousand yuan per square meter. The capital, together with major municipalities of Shanghai, and the southern provinces of Guangdong and Hainan are the regions with the most expensive commercial real estate in China, where the average price increased slightly to 10,422 yuan per square meter in 2023.

Abstract

China Living Standards Survey (CLSS) consists of one household survey and one community (village) survey, conducted in Hebei and Liaoning Provinces (northern and northeast China) in July 1995 and July 1997 respectively. Five villages from each three sample counties of each province were selected (six were selected in Liaoyang County of Liaoning Province because of administrative area change). About 880 farm households were selected from total thirty-one sample villages for the household survey. The same thirty-one villages formed the samples of community survey. This document provides information on the content of different questionnaires, the survey design and implementation, data processing activities, and the different available data sets.

Geographic coverage

The China Living Standards Survey (CLSS) was conducted only in Hebei and Liaoning Provinces (northern and northeast China).

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The CLSS sample is not a rigorous random sample drawn from a well-defined population. Instead it is only a rough approximation of the rural population in Hebei and Liaoning provinces in Northeastern China. The reason for this is that part of the motivation for the survey was to compare the current conditions with conditions that existed in Hebei and Liaoning in the 1930’s. Because of this, three counties in Hebei and three counties in Liaoning were selected as "primary sampling units" because data had been collected from those six counties by the Japanese occupation government in the 1930’s. Within each of these six counties (xian) five villages (cun) were selected, for an overall total of 30 villages (in fact, an administrative change in one village led to 31 villages being selected). In each county a "main village" was selected that was in fact a village that had been surveyed in the 1930s. Because of the interest in these villages 50 households were selected from each of these six villages (one for each of the six counties). In addition, four other villages were selected in each county. These other villages were not drawn randomly but were selected so as to "represent" variation within the county. Within each of these villages 20 households were selected for interviews. Thus the intended sample size was 780 households, 130 from each county.

Unlike county and village selection, the selection of households within each village was done according to standard sample selection procedures. In each village, a list of all households in the village was obtained from village leaders. An "interval" was calculated as the number of the households in the village divided by the number of households desired for the sample (50 for main villages and 20 for other villages). For the list of households, a random number was drawn between 1 and the interval number. This was used as a starting point. The interval was then added to this number to get a second number, then the interval was added to this second number to get a third number, and so on. The set of numbers produced were the numbers used to select the households, in terms of their order on the list.

In fact, the number of households in the sample is 785, as opposed to 780. Most of this difference is due to a village in which 24 households were interviewed, as opposed to the goal of 20 households

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Household Questionnaire

The household questionnaire contains sections that collect data on household demographic structure, education, housing conditions, land, agricultural management, household non-agricultural business, household expenditures, gifts, remittances and other income sources, and saving and loans. For some sections (general household information, schooling, housing, gift-exchange, remittance, other income, and credit and savings) the individual designated by the household members as the household head provided responses. For some other sections (farm land, agricultural management, family-run non-farm business, and household consumption expenditure) a member identified as the most knowledgeable provided responses. Identification codes for respondents of different sections indicate who provided the information. In sections where the information collected pertains to individuals (employment), whenever possible, each member of the household was asked to respond for himself or herself, except that parents were allowed to respond for younger children. Therefore, in the case of the employment section it is possible that the information was not provided by the relevant person; variables in this section indicate when this is true.

The household questionnaire was completed in a one-time interview in the summer of 1995. The survey was designed so that more sensitive issues such as credit and savings were discussed near the end. The content of each section is briefly described below.

Section 0 SURVEY INFORMATION

This section mainly summarizes the results of the survey visits. The following information was entered into the computer: whether the survey and the data entry were completed, codes of supervisor’s brief comments on interviewer, data entry operator, and related revising suggestion (e.g., 1. good, 2. revise at office, and 3. re-interview needed). Information about the date of interview, the names of interviewer, supervisor, data enterer, and detail notes of interviewer and supervisor were not entered into the computer.

Section 1 GENERAL HOUSEHOLD INFORMATION

1A HOUSEHOLD STRUCTURE 1B INFORMATION ABOUT THE HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS’ PARENTS 1C INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHILDREN WHO ARE NOT LIVING IN HOME

Section 1A lists the personal id code, sex, relationship to the household head, ethnic group, type of resident permit (agricultural [nongye], non-agricultural [fei nongye], or no resident permit), date of birth, marital status of all people who spent the previous night in that household and for household members who are temporarily away from home. The household head is listed first and receives the personal id code 1. Household members were defined to include “all the people who normally live and eat their meals together in this dwelling.” Those who were absent more than nine of the last twelve months were excluded, except for the head of household. For individuals who are married and whose spouse resides in the household, the personal id number of the spouse is noted. By doing so, information on the spouse can be collected by appropriately merging information from the section 1A and other parts of the survey.

Section 1B collects information on the parents of all household members. For individuals whose parents reside in the household, parents’ personal id numbers are noted, and information can be obtained by appropriately merging information from other parts of the survey. For individuals whose parents do not reside in the household, information is recorded on whether each parent is alive, as well as their schooling and occupation.

Section 1C collects information for children of household members who are not living in home. Children who have died are not included. The information on the name, sex, types of resident permit, age, education level, education cost, reasons not living in home, current living place, and type of job of each such child is recorded.

Section 2 SCHOOLING

In Section 2, information about literacy and numeracy, school attendance, completion, and current enrollment for all household members of preschool age and older. The interpretation of pre-school age appears to have varied, with the result that while education information is available for some children of pre-school age, not all pre-school children were included in this section. But for ages 6 and above information is available for nearly all individuals, so in essence the data on schooling can be said to apply all persons 6 age and above. For those who were enrolled in school at the time of the survey, information was also collected on school attendance, expenses, and scholarships. If applicable, information on serving as an apprentice, technical or professional training was also collected.

Section 3 EMPLOYMENT

3A GENERAL INFORMATION 3B MAJOR NON-FARM JOB IN 1994 3C THE SECOND NON-FARM JOB IN 1994 3D OTHER EMPLOYMENT ACTIVITIES IN 1994 3E SEARCHING FOR NON-FARM JOB 3F PROCESS FOR GETTING MAJOR NON-FARM JOB 3G CORVEE LABOR

All individuals age thirteen and above were asked to respond to the employment activity questions in Section 3. Section 3A collects general information on farm and non-farm employment, such as whether or not the household member worked on household own farm in 1994, when was the last year the member worked on own farm if he/she did not work in 1994, work days and hours during busy season, occupation and sector codes of the major, second, and third non-farm jobs, work days and total income of these non-farm jobs. There is a variable which indicates whether or not the individual responded for himself or herself.

Sections 3B and 3C collect detailed information on the major and the second non-farm job. Information includes number of months worked and which month in 1994 the member worked on these jobs, average works days (or hours) per month (per day), total number of years worked for these jobs by the end of 1994, different components of income, type of employment contracts. Information on employer’s ownership type and location was also collected.

Section 3D collects information on average hours spent doing chores and housework at home every day during non-busy and busy season. The chores refer to cooking, laundry, cleaning, shopping, cutting woods, as well as small-scale farm yard animals raising, for example, pigs or chickens. Large-scale animal

The average purchase price of a property by Chinese buyers in the United States increased by more than 100 percent between 2010 and 2024. In 2024, Chinese buyers paid, on average, over 1.3 million U.S. dollars for American properties. With a total of 7.5 billion U.S. dollars, China was the largest foreign buyer of residential real estate in the U.S.

The average export price for bearing housings incorporating ball or roller bearings stood at $3,019 per ton in September 2024, approximately reflecting the previous month.

In 2024, the consumer price index for rents of residential housing in China ranged at 99.8 percent compared to the previous year (previous year=100). Since 2019, annual average prices for apartment rents in China have decreased slightly most of the years.

In 2023, Poly Real Estate was the most active real estate developer in China, generating a sales revenue of approximately 386 billion yuan. Other leading companies were China Vanke and Greentown China. Real estate market in ChinaWith more than one hundred thousand real estate developers, China's real estate market is ranked among the world’s largest as of 2023, recruiting over 2.45 million employees, and generating revenue from real estate sales that has increased tenfold since 2005. China's real estate market has become a subject of debate for a long time, with the average real estate sale price per square meter in China skyrocketed from 3.8 thousand yuan in 2008 to more than 10 thousand yuan in 2021. However, different regions experienced substantially different price growth trends; as of 2022, Shanghai was the region in China with the highest sales price of real estate, closely followed by the capital, Beijing. Future developmentConsidering the average income in the country, the housing prices in the largest cities are far beyond the affordability of an average household, even in suburb areas. China's central and western provinces had relatively less expansive real estate price. As a matter of fact, housing prices in China grew at a pace parallel to the country's GDP growth rate. The fluctuation of real estate prices is very likely to have a far-reaching impact on China's economic development; although the extremely high real estate prices in some regions of China are expected to fall, a sudden drop of housing prices would set off a chain reaction, leading to devastating consequences for the country's future.

The Chinese market for bearing housings not incorporating ball or roller bearings, plain shaft bearings expanded to $11.6B in 2024, growing by 2.6% against the previous year. Overall, the total consumption indicated a strong expansion from 2012 to 2024: its value increased at an average annual rate of +5.7% over the last twelve-year period. The trend pattern, however, indicated some noticeable fluctuations being recorded throughout the analyzed period.

The Hong Kong market for bearing housings not incorporating ball or roller bearings, plain shaft bearings rose to $216M in 2024, surging by 3.2% against the previous year. In general, the total consumption indicated noticeable growth from 2012 to 2024: its value increased at an average annual rate of +3.2% over the last twelve years. The trend pattern, however, indicated some noticeable fluctuations being recorded throughout the analyzed period.

The statistic shows the average real estate sale price of real estate in China in 2023, by intended use. In 2023, one square meter of residential real estate cost on average 10,864 yuan.

In 2022, the average land price of Chinese real estate company China Vanke's new real estate projects was approximately 12,300 yuan, increasing significantly from the previous year. Overall, the average land price showed constant fluctuations.