Yes — but only if you are buying a home to live in. A foreign individual who has worked or studied in China for more than one year may buy self-use, self-occupied housing. Foreigners cannot buy property in China as an investment or as a rental portfolio, and the 2025 foreign-exchange reform made paying easier without changing that rule.

What does the rule say, and where does it come from?

The framework is the 2006 Opinion on Regulating Foreign Investment Access to and Management of the Real Estate Market (Jian Zhu Fang [2006] No. 171), issued by the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Commerce, the NDRC, the People’s Bank of China, the SAIC and SAFE. Section 3, item (10) allows an overseas institution’s branches and representative offices in China, and a foreign individual who has worked or studied in China for more than one year, to buy self-use and self-occupied commercial housing that meets their actual needs — and expressly prohibits buying housing that is not for self-use or self-occupation. In ordinary practice that is read as one home you actually live in.

Did China lift the “restriction” in 2025?

Partly the headlines did; the law did not. In September 2025 SAFE issued the Notice on Deepening Reform of Foreign Exchange Administration for Cross-Border Investment and Financing (Hui Fa [2025] No. 43), which streamlines currency conversion for foreign individuals buying a home in China — for example, removing the need for a filing certificate before the down payment is paid. SAFE said publicly at the time that this is a banking-procedure optimisation and does not change the policy on whether foreign individuals may buy property. Reports that the 20-year rule had been scrapped were a misreading.

What this means in practice

Three points to watch. Your one-year work or study status has to be documented — expect a residence permit plus proof of employment or enrolment. City rules differ: some cities separately relaxed limits for Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas Chinese residents, and each has its own registration process. And the failure point is rarely the sale contract; it is registration and tax, where a home bought as a rental has to be re-characterised.

A hypothetical scenario

Take a French engineer who has worked in Suzhou for two years on a valid work permit and wants to buy a flat to live in. Under the 2006 rules the purchase is generally allowed: self-use, documented status, funds settled through a bank under the 2025 SAFE arrangements. If the same engineer then buys three units and rents them out, the plan usually breaks — not when the contract is signed, but when registration or tax is assessed.

The bottom line: a foreigner can buy a home in China to live in after a year here, but not a slice of China’s property market.

FAQ

Q: Can foreigners buy property in China?

A: Yes, but only if you are buying a home to live in. A foreign individual who has worked or studied in China for more than one year may buy self-use, self-occupied housing, and foreigners cannot buy property in China as an investment or as a rental portfolio.

Q: What is the legal basis for the one-year rule?

A: The framework is the 2006 Opinion on Regulating Foreign Investment Access to and Management of the Real Estate Market, whose Section 3, item (10) allows a foreign individual who has worked or studied in China for more than one year to buy self-use and self-occupied commercial housing that meets their actual needs, and expressly prohibits buying housing that is not for self-use or self-occupation.

Q: Did the 2025 reform lift the restriction?

A: No. The September 2025 SAFE notice streamlines currency conversion for foreign individuals buying a home in China, for example by removing the need for a filing certificate before the down payment is paid, but SAFE said publicly at the time that this is a banking-procedure optimisation and does not change the policy on whether foreign individuals may buy property.

Q: What documents do I need to buy a home in China?

A: Your one-year work or study status has to be documented, so expect a residence permit plus proof of employment or enrolment.

Q: What usually goes wrong?

A: The failure point is rarely the sale contract; it is registration and tax, where a home bought as a rental has to be re-characterised. City rules also differ, and each city has its own registration process.

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Wang Guan | Co-founder, Beijing Haolue Law Firm | +86 17813108512