Abstract: The real estate registration system is not only a legal system, but a formal system in the new institutional economics. It is a system for publicizing real property rights and their changes; therefore, it has great significance in the protection of property rights, the maintenance of transaction security and the promotion of economic development., The real estate registration system with publicity and transaction security as its value goal was first introduced into China in The Draft of Civil Law in Qing Dynasty and was fully established in the period of Nanjing National Government of the Republic of China. Since the founding of New China, the system has undergone the process of stagnation and reconstruction. From the early years of New China to 1978 before the initiation of reform and opening-up, the development of the real estate registration system in China remained at a standstill. Since 1978, the system has gradually returned to market-oriented, the role of the registration authority has transformed gradually from registration administrator to registration service provider, and the registration functions also changed from management functions to the instinct of real right publicity.

Key words: real estate registration; formal system; trade safety; institutional economics