Beijing's Municipal Government will allocate 1,000 hectares of collectively-owned rural land to build public rental housing over the next five years, the Beijing Morning Post reports.
The plan aims to encourage long-term rental use of the land, which has to date been collectively owned by farmers who were not legally allowed to make profits from renting it out. Under the new rules, farmers will still be restricted from selling the land.
The project is part of a central planning initiative being piloted in 13 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, aimed at unlocking rural land for rental use to help take some of the head out of China's real estate market, in accordance with the Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
Insiders told the Post the plan would optimize and upgrade the collective industrial structure. It will also give rural farmers a new source of income and allow them to enjoy the social benefits conferred by land-use rights.
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