
China Prohibits Urban Residents from Buying Rural Homes to Preserve Arable Land
The Chinese government has announced a policy prohibiting urban residents from purchasing rural houses or homesteads and prohibiting retired cadres from occupying land in rural areas to build houses, as outlined in the 2025 Central Document No. 1. This policy is consistent with a previous notice issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, which requires the strict prohibition of illegal transactions of homesteads and the prohibition of urban residents from purchasing homesteads and houses in rural areas.















