Abstract: China’s urban housing system and its evolution since the reform and opening up 40 years ago have been mainly based on the internal needs at several levels: (1) the development of socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics needs to explore the allocation mode of land resources under public ownership; (2) the rapid urbanization, urban-rural integration and demographic changes require to transform rapidly, orderly and effectively the non-urban land into urban land so as to be used in urban residential construction; (3) the characteristics of relevant financing methods under China’s fiscal and taxation system determine that land should be used as the main source of financing in urban constructions; (4) macroeconomic regulation and control and the development of cities in different regions need to be realized through the residential market, which is a channel with many related industries and obvious regional characteristics. Although the development of China’s urban real estate market has made great achievements, it is necessary to further deepen the reform of relevant fiscal and taxation and social security systems, optimize the land use mechanisms, and improve the efficiency of housing financing in the future urban housing market and corresponding institutional changes.

Key words: urban housing system; fiscal and taxation structure; urbanization; demographic changes