China’s Housing Ministry Deploys ‘Good Houses’ Plan

China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) has unveiled a “full-chain, full-cycle” initiative to build what it calls “good houses” (好房子), aiming to raise living standards during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030). The plan, detailed by Vice Minister Chen Shaowang and Chief Engineer Li Xiaolong, was reported by Economic Daily and republished by People’s Daily on October 5, 2026, drawing on a State Council Information Office press conference held on September 18.

What Makes a ‘Good House’?

According to Vice Minister Chen Shaowang, the goal is defined by four qualities: a good house must be safe, comfortable, green, and smart. Delivering it, he said, requires advancing across the “full chain and full lifecycle” of five elements — good standards, good design, good materials, good construction, and good operations and maintenance.

Chief Engineer Li Xiaolong framed the 15th Five-Year Plan effort around three tasks: build new houses well, renovate old houses well, and deliver services well.

Building New Homes Better

For new construction, the ministry plans a two-track approach. The first is to raise standards, design, materials, construction, and maintenance across the chain. The second is to apply intelligent construction, green construction, green building materials, and modular buildings to residential projects.

Specific design innovations illustrate the ambition. “Pipeline separation” (管线分离) designs isolate water, heating, and electrical lines from the main structure, solving the chronic problem of “opening walls and drilling holes” (开墙打洞) during future repairs and renovations and reducing friction between neighbors. Some projects feature variable, adjustable rooms that increase storage space and reserve room for later retrofits — a design suited to multi-child families and elderly-care needs.

“During the 15th Five-Year Plan, there will be more and more such ‘good houses,’” Li said.

Renovating Old Housing

For older buildings, the ministry outlined two methods. The first is “demolish-and-rebuild in place” (原拆原建): housing certified as Grade D dangerous structures must be demolished and rebuilt. Under this approach, though floor area changes little, the building’s structure and function are entirely transformed — an old house becomes a new one directly.

The second method is renovation, repair, and partial upgrading. This includes applying prefabricated decoration and other practical technologies to older homes, or combining age-friendly (适老化) and smart (智能化) retrofits so that buildings adapt to the needs of the times.

Delivering Services, Not Just Buildings

A “good house,” the ministry argues, must come with “good services.” Localities will use good houses as the foundation to coordinate the development of good residential compounds, good communities, and good urban districts, filling gaps in elderly care, childcare, and dining services.

The plan establishes a full-lifecycle housing safety management system. Residential design life is set at a minimum of 50 years, with some buildings designed to last a century. Past reliance on rapid construction left the use-phase management system underdeveloped, officials said, and the 15th Five-Year Plan is meant to fill that gap.

Localities will also implement a property service quality improvement campaign, strengthening Party-building leadership and creating a new coordination model among residents’ committees, homeowners’ committees, and property service enterprises under community Party organizations.

Quantitative Targets and Urban Renewal

At the September 18 press conference, officials set out concrete goals for the 15th Five-Year Plan, as reported by CNR. China will begin renovation of 115,000 urban old residential communities, carry out “complete community” construction and renovation in 5,000 communities, update and install 575,000 residential elevators, and build or renovate 50,000 hectares of urban green space. A further 1,500 old street blocks and factory areas will be upgraded, with new industries and business formats introduced.

Zhang Qiang, director of MOHURD’s Urban Management Supervision Bureau, described urban renewal as “an important lever for urban work at the current stage.” He said China’s urbanization is shifting from a rapid-growth phase to a stable-development phase, and urban development from large-scale incremental expansion to stock-based quality improvement.

The effort is organized around three engineering priorities: livelihood projects that improve living quality, development projects that boost investment and consumption, and safety projects that guard the safety bottom line. On the safety front, China will advance “lifeline safety engineering” for urban infrastructure, using digital tools for real-time monitoring, dynamic early warning, and effective disposal of operational risks.

A ‘China Construction’ Upgrade

Li Xiaolong also outlined a four-part upgrade for the construction industry: promoting industrial upgrading, stimulating market vitality, improving building quality, and supporting enterprises going global. The industrial push integrates big data, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence with traditional construction, and applies building information modeling (BIM) across design, construction, and maintenance.

On overseas expansion, Li said Chinese firms’ self-developed modular building products are proving popular in foreign markets, drawing many fast-growing orders. The government will support “going out” enterprises and push foreign contracting firms toward higher-value segments such as design consulting and later operations.

Local Implementation

The initiative is already taking shape at the provincial level, according to the Economic Daily report. Fujian Province issued trial “Good Houses” design technical guidelines covering three-dimensional greening, energy-saving windows, rainwater utilization, smart homes, flood control, and typhoon resistance. Qingdao in Shandong compiled a standards system integrating more than 1,200 existing engineering standards across five sections.

Henan Province formed a provincial good-house design industry alliance focused on sound insulation, heat insulation, ventilation, waterproofing, and moisture resistance. Xingtai in Hebei permits qualifying new residential communities to raise site grade and expand underground space for amenities such as urban study rooms and gyms. Hebei and Yunnan target sound insulation, cross-odor, and leakage problems, while Jiangsu promotes a “transparent factory” model that publicizes housing quality information and makes construction processes traceable. Guangdong is advancing 18 specific tasks covering bidding management, design quality, digitalization, and grassroots expert service.

Background

The “good houses” concept was first proposed by MOHURD Minister Ni Hong in June 2023. In March 2025, the ministry released the Residential Project Code — dubbed the “good houses national standard” — which took effect on May 1, 2025, and requires a floor height of no less than 3 meters, improved sound insulation, and better lighting. More than 40 cities have been piloting full-lifecycle housing safety management systems.

The October 5 reporting functions less as a single news event than as policy messaging, translating the September press conference into concrete 15th Five-Year Plan commitments. By linking housing quality to both livelihood improvement and economic stimulus, the initiative positions urban renewal as a dual-purpose tool — raising living standards while spurring investment and consumption.

What’s Next

As the 15th Five-Year Plan gets underway, the focus will shift to implementation. Key questions remain unanswered in the official coverage, including the funding mechanisms and budget allocation behind the targets, and how the demolish-and-rebuild process for Grade D dangerous housing will handle property rights, compensation, and resident relocation. Li struck an optimistic note: “During the 15th Five-Year Plan, we will together turn the vision of safe, comfortable, green, and smart good houses into a tangible reality of happiness for the people.”