China Overhauls Housing Provident Fund: Four Key Changes
China’s Housing Provident Fund — the mandatory housing savings scheme that covers over 176 million workers — is undergoing its most significant overhaul in years. On June 5, 2026, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) released a revised draft of the Housing Provident Fund Management Regulations for a 30-day public consultation, marking the third major revision since the system was codified in 1999.
The proposed changes, reported by Xinhua News, aim to transform the fund from a narrow home-purchase support tool into a comprehensive housing consumption platform. Here are the four key highlights and what they mean for China’s housing landscape.
1. Expanding Coverage to Gig Economy Workers
Perhaps the most socially significant change is the expansion of coverage to flexible-employment workers. The revised draft explicitly allows individual business owners, part-time workers, and other gig economy participants — including food delivery riders and ride-hailing drivers — to voluntarily join the system.
This addresses a long-standing gap. China’s platform economy has exploded in recent years, yet the Housing Provident Fund has traditionally only covered formal-sector employees. As CCTV News noted, the change makes the fund “more inclusive, allowing more people to enjoy the benefits of low-interest loans and housing savings security.”
The move builds on pilot programs that began in 2021 with six cities and expanded to 36 cities by 2024, enrolling over 1 million flexible workers. City-level governments will now formulate specific implementation measures, tailoring the program to local conditions.
2. Broader Usage: From ‘Buying a Home’ to ‘Maintaining a Home’
The draft expands withdrawal categories from six to nine, adding three new purposes: renovation and decoration of self-occupied housing, payment of property management fees, and a flexible catch-all provision for other housing consumption approved by the State Council.
This marks a fundamental shift in the fund’s philosophy. According to the official MOHURD announcement, the revision is designed to “better meet the diversified housing consumption needs of contributors at different stages” — extending support from “buying a home” and “renting a home” to “repairing a home” and “maintaining a home.”
Professor Wu Jing, Director of the Real Estate Research Center at Tsinghua University, told CCTV News that the expansion makes the fund’s support “more comprehensive and three-dimensional,” covering most major housing consumption scenarios. However, he cautioned that cities must implement changes based on their available fund balances, avoiding a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
3. Optimized Management and Tighter Oversight
The revised draft strengthens the responsibilities of Housing Provident Fund Management Committees and enhances supervision over management institutions. It clarifies legal liabilities for centers that fail to supervise timely payment obligations and introduces tighter controls against fraudulent withdrawals and loans.
These measures respond to longstanding concerns about governance gaps and abuse. By “zhaketing the institutional fence,” as the Xinhua analysis put it, the revision aims to ensure the fund’s long-term sustainability while expanding its reach.
4. Digital Transformation and Cross-City Portability
Service efficiency gets a major upgrade. The draft shortens loan approval timelines from 15 days to 10 days after application and mandates stronger digital capabilities for fund management. Crucially, it establishes mechanisms for mutual recognition of Housing Provident Fund contributions across different cities — a feature known as “inter-city mutual recognition and mutual lending.”
This addresses one of the system’s most persistent pain points. As China’s workforce becomes increasingly mobile, workers have long complained about the difficulty of transferring or using their housing funds when moving between cities. The “inter-city mutual recognition” provision, combined with ongoing digital reforms like “one-stop online service” and “maximum one visit,” promises to make the fund far more user-friendly.
What This Means for China’s Housing Market
The revision arrives at a pivotal moment. China’s real estate market is transitioning from rapid expansion to a quality-focused phase, with housing demand shifting from “having a home” to “having a good home.” The December 2025 Central Economic Work Conference explicitly called for “deepening reform of the Housing Provident Fund system,” and this draft is a direct implementation of that directive.
Professor Qin Hong, Senior Researcher at Renmin University’s National Academy of Development and Strategy, wrote in People’s Forum that during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, the fund needs to transform “from a single home-purchase support tool into a professional mutual-aid platform covering the full lifecycle of renting, purchasing, renovating, and maintaining.”
The public comment period runs until July 5, 2026. Feedback can be submitted via email (gjjtl@mohurd.gov.cn) or postal mail to MOHURD’s Legal Affairs Department in Beijing. After the consultation closes, the State Council will finalize the regulations, potentially enacting the most consequential reform of China’s Housing Provident Fund in a generation.
Reporting by Xinhua News Agency, CCTV News, and People’s Forum.