Yes, foreigners can own property in China, but under noticeably tighter rules than Chinese citizens face. You generally need to have lived in the country for at least a year on a qualifying permit, you can hold only one residential unit nationwide, and you never actually own the land beneath the building. A 2025 foreign exchange reform made moving money in for a purchase easier, but the core eligibility rules are unchanged and are enforced city by city.
Who Can Buy
The national baseline comes from a 2006 central government directive commonly called Decree 171. It requires that a foreign individual has worked or studied continuously in China for at least one year before buying a home. That residence must be documented with a valid residence permit tied to employment or study. Tourist visas and short-term business visas don’t qualify. The qualifying permit is the one issued after entry on a Z (work) or X (student) visa, once you’ve registered with the local public security bureau.
Cities routinely layer their own rules on top. Shanghai, for example, requires at least twelve consecutive months of individual income tax or social security contributions paid locally, and your labor contract has to be with a Shanghai-registered employer. Other first-tier cities apply similar local checks. Before you start looking at listings, confirm the current rule with the municipal housing authority where you plan to buy.
The purchase must also be for self-use as a personal residence. Decree 171 specifically barred foreign purchases made for investment. In September 2025, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) removed a restriction that had blocked using foreign-exchange capital account income to buy non-owner-occupied residential property.1The State Council of the People’s Republic of China. China’s Forex Regulator Unveils Policies to Facilitate Cross-Border Investment SAFE emphasized that this change is procedural. It does not override the underlying eligibility rules, which local real estate regulators still set, and in practice most cities continue to require self-use.
How Many Homes You Can Own
A foreign individual or family is capped at one residential property anywhere in mainland China. Not one per city. One unit, total, nationwide. The rule was formalized in 2010 through joint guidelines from SAFE and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, reinforcing the principle that foreign purchases should meet a personal housing need rather than build a portfolio.
Commercial real estate is a separate track entirely. If you want to acquire office space, retail property, or invest in a development project, you can’t do it as an individual foreign buyer. You have to establish a Chinese company, typically a wholly foreign-owned enterprise, and get approval from the foreign investment authority. The company buys the property, not you personally. That framework has been in place since 2006 and still applies.
You Buy the Building, Not the Land
This is where Chinese property law diverges most sharply from what buyers from the United States, Europe, or most other countries expect. All land in China belongs either to the state, in urban areas, or to rural collectives. Nobody, Chinese citizen or foreigner, can own land outright.2AsianLII. Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of the Urban Real Estate
What you actually purchase is the building itself plus a “land use right” for a fixed term. For residential property, that term is 70 years. The clock starts from the date the developer originally acquired the land use right from the government, not from the date you sign your purchase contract. If a developer obtained the rights in 2015 and you buy an apartment there in 2026, you have roughly 59 years remaining. The Urban Real Estate Administration Law delegates the specific term limits to the State Council, which set the 70-year cap for residential use through separate regulations.3Congressional-Executive Commission on China. Urban Real Estate Management Law of the People’s Republic of China
What happens when 70 years run out? Article 359 of the PRC Civil Code says residential land use rights renew automatically on expiration. Any renewal fees will be handled according to future laws and administrative regulations, and those details have not been finalized. Legal observers generally expect the government not to let millions of urban homeowners lose their housing rights, but the exact cost and procedure for renewal remains an open question.4National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China. Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China
Taxes at Purchase and Sale
Foreign buyers pay the same transaction taxes as Chinese citizens. The main upfront cost is the deed tax, which works like a transfer tax paid by the buyer at closing. The statutory rate ranges from 3 to 5 percent, but preferential rates apply for individuals buying a family home. For a first home under 140 square meters, the deed tax drops to 1 percent of the purchase price. For a first home above 140 square meters, it’s 1.5 percent. These reduced rates took effect in December 2024.
When you eventually sell, two taxes matter most. Individual income tax is levied at a flat 20 percent on the capital gain. Value-added tax depends on how long you held the property: homes sold within two years of purchase are taxed at 3 percent of the transaction price (reduced from 5 percent effective January 2026), while homes held for two or more years are exempt from VAT.
There’s also a meaningful break for homeowners who sell and buy again in the same city. Through December 31, 2027, if you sell your home and purchase a replacement within one year, you can claim a refund of the individual income tax paid on the sale. The refund is full if the new home costs at least as much as the one you sold, and proportional if the new home is cheaper.5The State Council of the People’s Republic of China. China Extends Tax Refund Policy for Households Replacing Homes
Financing and Bringing Money In
You don’t have to pay all cash. Major Chinese banks, including state-owned institutions like Bank of China, offer mortgages to individuals with permanent residence or valid resident status. The standard minimum down payment is 20 percent of the purchase price.6Bank of China. Personal New Housing Loan (Happiness Builder) Expect to provide income documentation, tax records, the purchase contract, and standard identity and residency documents.
Getting foreign currency into China for the purchase used to be one of the bigger practical headaches. The 2025 SAFE reform simplified it. Foreign individuals who meet local purchase qualifications can now use a signed purchase contract to settle and pay foreign exchange funds through a bank before obtaining the formal purchase registration certificate. Previously the certificate had to come first, which produced a chicken-and-egg problem in fast-moving markets.1The State Council of the People’s Republic of China. China’s Forex Regulator Unveils Policies to Facilitate Cross-Border Investment
How the Purchase Actually Works
Once eligibility and financing are settled, the transaction moves through a fixed sequence. You engage a licensed real estate agent to identify properties. After finding a unit, buyer and seller sign a preliminary purchase agreement and the buyer pays a deposit.
A formal, government-standardized sales contract follows. Foreign buyers face an extra step: the contract must be notarized by a Chinese public notary office, which verifies the identities of both parties and the authenticity of the agreement. Any documents in a foreign language must be translated by a certified translation company before submission.
The final step is registration with the local Real Estate Transaction Center. You submit your passport, residence permit, notarized sales contract, and supporting documents. Once the center approves the registration, it issues the Property Ownership Certificate. That certificate is your definitive proof of ownership rights, and it’s the single document that establishes your legal interest in the property, so store it carefully.
Selling and Moving the Proceeds Abroad
You can sell your Chinese property, but repatriating the proceeds means working through China’s foreign exchange controls. After paying the applicable taxes on the sale, you apply for an approval letter from the local foreign exchange authority. The maximum amount you can transfer abroad equals the registered transaction price minus taxes owed as the seller, including individual income tax and VAT.
The approval letter is issued once and is valid for 15 days. Within that window you have to complete the currency conversion and transfer the funds to your overseas account in a single transaction, not installments. If the letter expires before the transfer is done, you start the process over. A bank with practical experience handling foreign property transactions is worth seeking out here.
Inheriting Property
Foreign nationals can inherit residential property in China. The PRC Civil Code does not strip inheritance rights based on nationality or emigration status. If a Chinese citizen leaves property to a foreign heir, whether by will or by intestate succession, the heir can receive and hold title.
Chinese law governs the inheritance of real property located in China, regardless of the deceased’s nationality. Where a will is involved, its validity may be assessed under either the law of the testator’s habitual residence or their nationality, but the actual transfer of the property follows Chinese rules. The heir completes the transfer at the local Real Estate Transaction Center where the title deed is recorded. Notarization of inheritance rights is no longer mandatory after a 2017 procedural reform, though hiring a local lawyer is advisable for foreign heirs who cannot easily travel to China. Whether an inherited home counts against the one-unit limit if the heir later wants to buy separately is a determination local housing authorities make, and the answer can vary by city.