1. HOUSING IN THE CITIES

a. Private houses
Before the housing reform in China, only farmers and a few people in the cities owned houses.

b. State / collective houses (welfare houses)
Most of the houses in the cities belonged to the state. Government provided housing to the people with very low rental and to single workers free of charge.
For government workers or visitors who should apply and those who had longer working years or higher ranks were given better and larger apartments. There was always a long line of applicants and younger people had to wait a long time (5 to 10 years). So sometimes young people complained that it was easier to find a wife than a house.

c. House space standard
The housing condition was then rather poor. The average space for per person was less than 6 square meters.
The housing space for each family was different according their social status or professional standard. For instance, housing space standard in universities:

Professor: 90-120M²
Associate professor: 70-90M²
Lecturer or below: 55-70M²

2. HOUSING IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

In the countryside, peasants and farmers and some people who lived on own products have to depend on themselves since there is no retirement system. They build their own houses. There were a few government houses in the countryside, and those were for the government workers.  

             Housing reform started in 1994, first practiced in a few big cities as an experiment. Since then housing has been becoming more and more socialized and commercialized. The housing reform was divided into three periods:

             The first period was before 1996. The government houses could be purchased at low rate. The price per square meter was about 400 to 500 yuan ($48 to $60). The second period was from 1996 to 2000). The government houses could be purchased on favorable terms. And people were building houses collectively so that they could benefit with the government price. The third period is after 2000. All the houses will be purchased at market price.

             There occurred some problems with the reform: 
             People have got used to the old ways of living in state-owned houses. A large number of new houses (by real estate) remained unsold. The house price is too high compared with people’s income.

             The government has taken a lot of measures by encouraging banks to offer loans to people, usually 70% on mortgage with low interest (about 5%). The government gives the priority to the real estate by charging less tax and the real estate try to cooperate with the government by minimizing their profit. On the other hand, the government keeps making people aware the fact the house rental is rising rapidly. Up to the end of October of 2002, over94.3% of people in China has purchased their houses.

             According to the government's policy, people will be given some housing subsidies up to 15 or 20 years. The welfare house delivery has been turned into currency delivery added salary. A certain portion of salary is deducted (your employer has to add equivalent amount of money into the foundation) for housing deposit for repair or buying house. This total amount of deposit can be paid back to you as soon as you retire.