According to a national survey and statistics report on urban
housing released by the Ministry of Construction on Monday, China's
residential floor areas for urban residents stood at 10.77 billion
square meters at the end of 2005, about 65.46 percent of all
buildings areas. The average personal residential space was 26.11
square meters.
Of the 10.77 billion square meters, the east China has 5.37
billion square meters, central regions 3.03 billion square meters
and western regions 2.37 billion square meters, which accounts for
49.84 percent, 28.16 percent and 22 percent respectively.
The average residential area per household was 83.2 square
meter, while the figure in the eastern regions was 85.32 square
meters, 77.96 square meters in central regions and 85.75 square
meters in the west.
The average personal residential space was 28 square meters in
eastern regions, 23.9 square meters in central regions, and 25.24
square meters in the west.
East China's Zhejiang Province tops the list of the average
personal living space at 34.8 square meters. Shanghai is second
with 33.07 square meters. Beijing follows with 32.86 square meters.
The data in most of the cities in the middle and western regions
give figures of less than 25 square meters except Chongqing where the living area is 30.68
square meters per capita.
The urban private residential area – houses bought or
constructed by individuals – was 8.79 billion square meters
nationwide which accounted for 81.62 percent of all urban
residential areas. This figure stood at 4.43 billion square meters
in eastern regions, 2.42 billion square meters in the central
regions and 1.94 billion square meters in the west.
According to Li Wenjie, manager of north China region for
Centaline, a well known property developer, the proportion of
private residential properties is somewhat high compared with the
developed market in the US where the privatization level is only 60
percent.
As much of residential space remains vacant in the current
Chinese real estate market, the government should strengthen
guidance on housing consumption and stimulate the rental market, Li
observed.
He also said that the over-development of large areas and
high-end homes resulted in the rise of the average personal
residential area in both Beijing and Shanghai. This to some degree
hid that fact that the average personal residential area of
low-and- medium-income families was shrinking.
(China.org.cn by Li Shen, July 5, 2006)