Shanghai's first contract for "acquiring residents' old housing for affordable housing"

Yuan Bo

On April 1, the Shanghai-based edition (Reporter Huang Xiaohui) On March 31, Mr. Shi, a resident of Jing’an District, Shanghai, signed two contracts. One is to “sell” his 40-square-meter old apartment to the Jing’an District affordable housing company, and the other is to purchase a 112-square-meter newly built commodity apartment from a certain real estate developer in Jing’an District—one sale and one purchase, allowing Mr. Shi to complete a housing “upgrade.” This signing marks a breakthrough by Shanghai in the areas of revitalizing existing housing holdings in a market-oriented way and efficiently raising affordable rental housing, becoming the city’s first case in which the government guides and a state-owned enterprise carries out the acquisition of residents’ old homes as affordable housing.

After signing with the Jing’an District affordable housing company, Mr. Shi will receive a “housing ticket” valued at 2.2 million yuan for the assessed price of the old apartment. This “housing ticket” is earmarked to offset the purchase payment of the newly selected apartment that Mr. Shi purchases, and the purchased home is expected to be handed over after two years.

According to the introduction, the Jing’an District’s affordable rental housing sources are mainly raised through new construction and renovations. As Shanghai’s central urban area, Jing’an District has tight land resources, and the traditional model can no longer fully meet the incremental demand for raising affordable rental housing. In the “15th Five-Year Plan” and “16th Five-Year Plan” period, Jing’an District plans to add about 13,000 units (rooms) of affordable rental housing. To further broaden housing source channels, Jing’an District, as a pilot in Shanghai, has developed a “housing acquisition and swap” model.

Under the model design, the Jing’an District affordable housing company, as the implementing entity, follows market-oriented principles to acquire, within the district, existing inventory housing with clearly defined property rights and an appropriate total price for self-contained small units. After the housing sources undergo standardized renovations in a unified manner, they are incorporated into the district-level affordable rental housing management system, providing targeted housing protection for groups such as new urban residents and young people at a standard lower than the market rental rate for the same location. At the same time, the model also opens up a new channel for residents with housing improvement needs: residents can first lock in the intended newly built commodity housing options within Jing’an District and the purchase conditions, and then submit an application for acquisition of their old home to the Jing’an District affordable housing company. The Jing’an District affordable housing company issues residents “housing tickets” that are specifically used for exchanging, realizing a closed-loop of “standardized disposal of old homes and smooth purchase of new homes.”

“This policy solves our need to improve our living conditions. The process is transparent, the operations are convenient, and it makes people feel more at ease and worry-free.” Mr. Shi said.

《People’s Daily》 (April 2, 2026, p. 14)