A single character difference, a major change in the industry

Ask AI · Renaming the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau to the Housing and Urban Renewal Bureau, how to promote high-quality real estate development?

Recently, many local Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureaus across the country have been renamed as “Housing and Urban Renewal Bureaus.”

Changing “Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau” to “Housing and Urban Renewal Bureau”—though just one character difference—represents a fundamental transformation from “incremental expansion” to “stock quality improvement.”

The December 2024 Economic Work Conference upgraded the description of urban renewal from “vigorous implementation” in 2024 to “high-quality promotion.”

At the same time, this year’s Central Economic Work Conference also for the first time proposed “expanding pilot reforms of factor marketization,” which seems only loosely related to real estate but actually provides underlying institutional support for stabilizing the housing market and urban renewal.

In 2025, the central government’s policy deployment for urban renewal shows clear hierarchical progression and emphasis on key points. By 2026, urban renewal accelerates, with multiple cities releasing implementation plans and project lists for 2026.

Currently, urban renewal has become a core lever for stabilizing the real estate market, with its value extending beyond short-term market boosts to achieving precise supply-demand matching and structural optimization.

It can be said that urban renewal will become the core growth driver as the real estate market enters a new stage.

In 2024, the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureaus of 17 cities (prefectures) in Hubei Province were renamed as “Housing and Urban Renewal Bureaus” (abbreviated as “Huayuan Bureaus”), with cities like Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Jinan establishing dedicated urban renewal agencies. In 2025, Sichuan Urban Renewal Group, Zhejiang Construction Urban Operation Group, and others were successively inaugurated.

From “Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau” to “Housing and Urban Renewal Bureau,” the change of just one character signifies a fundamental shift in industry logic. “Construction” relates to “from nothing to something,” corresponding to the previous rapid expansion and incremental growth; “Renewal” means “from existing to better,” aligning with the current new model of high-quality development in real estate.

Since the December 2024 Economic Work Conference upgraded the description of urban renewal from “vigorous implementation” to “high-quality promotion,” the connotation of urban renewal has risen from old renovation projects to a dual engine for stabilizing the housing market and fostering new development models, with strategic significance greatly enhanced.

In 2025, “urban renewal” became a high-frequency keyword in central policy deployments, with multiple ministries and commissions making intensive statements at high-level meetings and documents, forming a systematic, coordinated policy promotion framework.

Compared to “from nothing to something” construction, stock renewal involves more complex aspects, such as property rights holders, residents, communities, and multi-level governments, requiring overall coordination. Under the “high-quality promotion” requirement, today’s “urban renewal” is no longer about large demolitions and reconstructions but about considering sustainable development modes for city-wide lifecycle governance.

Therefore, the transition from “Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau” to “Housing and Urban Renewal Bureau” mainly aims to better lead and coordinate various parties.

Since 2026, many cities have announced their urban renewal implementation plans and project lists for 2026.

First, Beijing released its first batch of urban renewal project lists for 2026 at the end of February, totaling 1,321 projects with an annual planned investment of 104.95 billion yuan. The projects cover eight types, including building renovation and old community redevelopment.

Next, Chongqing issued its first “Urban Renewal Opportunity List,” including 207 projects with a total investment of nearly 120 billion yuan. Wuhan announced its first batch with an investment of 130.8 billion yuan, aiming to complete 182 district renovations in three years, leading in investment scale. Guangzhou plans to invest 220 billion yuan to advance 104 key projects.

In addition, Shenzhen has not disclosed investment scale but has included 1,063 projects in its urban renewal plan, while Hangzhou has over 1,500 projects scheduled for 2026-2028.

It is evident that urban renewal has fully accelerated in 2026.

In fact, since the central urban work conference in July 2025 further elevated urban renewal to a strategic height of high-quality development and explicitly regarded it as a core path for constructing a new real estate development model, urban renewal has become the core lever for stabilizing the real estate market.

From the perspective of stabilizing the housing market, urban renewal directly addresses supply-demand mismatches. On the demand side, urban renewal closely aligns with the population aggregation needs of new urbanization. By the end of 2024, China’s urbanization rate of permanent residents reached 67%, but the urbanization rate of registered residents was less than 50%. Rigid demand from new citizens and the upgrading needs of existing residents overlap. Urban renewal, through old community renovations, village-in-city rectifications, and community construction, precisely matches diverse housing and living needs. On the supply side, urban renewal balances inventory reduction and supply enhancement, focusing on activating stock land and upgrading facilities, avoiding resource waste from incremental expansion, and optimizing urban spatial layout through redevelopment of inefficient land and existing buildings, thereby improving public service quality.

From a new development model perspective, urban renewal promotes industry transformation from “building houses” to “creating spaces.” The previous “land finance + scale expansion” model emphasized redevelopment over operation, while renewal emphasizes activating stock and upgrading functions, such as integrating elderly care and childcare facilities into urban village renovations, opening new paths for developers in development and operation.

Moreover, from a long-term development perspective, urban renewal will become the core growth driver after the real estate market enters a new stage. On one hand, urban renewal can bring more high-quality residential land, promoting the development of “good houses.” On the other hand, as China’s urbanization level steadily increases and residents’ housing conditions continue to improve, the real estate market shifts from large-scale incremental construction to stock quality improvement. Housing updates replacing new construction will become the main source of housing demand. Urban renewal will also meet high-quality living needs through the “Four Good” approach: good houses, good communities, good neighborhoods, and good districts.

It should be noted that urban renewal is not merely a measure to stabilize the real estate market, but a comprehensive strategic deployment covering livelihood improvement, economic growth, and high-quality urban development. Its policy priority and implementation certainty are significantly higher than general real estate stabilization policies.

Currently, China’s urbanization has shifted from rapid growth to steady development, and urban development has moved from large-scale incremental expansion to stock quality enhancement. New issues in population structure, land use, and infrastructure need urgent solutions. Against this background, urban renewal becomes a key lever to address these challenges.