China unveils measures to overhaul nationwide home sales process

China is officially moving to end the era of buying apartments that don’t exist yet. The government announced plans to transition the country’s residential property market from pre-sales of unfinished units to a model centered on completed homes. The reform targets a system that has been in place since 1994, when China adopted a pre-sale model borrowed from Hong Kong. Under that framework, buyers pay for homes months or even years before construction wraps up, effectively lending developers cheap capital. From blueprints to bricks Completed-home sales accounted for 32.5% of new-home transactions by floor area in early 2025, a dramatic jump from just 10.4% in 2021. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, known as MOHURD, has been the driving force behind the transition. The ministry has pushed for expanded completed-home sales as a way to reduce delivery risk and protect purchasers. Pilot programs rolled out across more than 30 cities starting in late 2022, testing various approaches to making the switch. Policy signals intensified through 2024 and into 2025, with local governments drafting city-specific rules to support the new model. MOHURD has emphasized that reforms...