China to build rental housing in suburbs

Beijing

CHINA will launch pilot programmes in 13 major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, to build rental housing projects in rural areas as part of efforts to ease a housing supply shortage, the land ministry said on Monday.

That would enable megacities such as the capital Beijing to supply rental homes in its suburban areas where most land is collectively owned by rural villages, without having to expropriate the land first, analysts said.

Chinese land is divided into urban and rural land regimes, granting ownership rights over urban land to the state while rural land is owne…