China’s property assets are based on leases – typically 70 years for residential, 40 years for commercial and 50 years for industrial.
If you think about the lease and the renewal of a lease, that is the holding cost of owning a property asset in China, just like you need to think about property tax , insurance, HOA etc. in the US.
The renewal price is linked to the benchmark land price.
Here is an example of “benchmark land price” in Shanghai for 2026.
E.g. for a 40 years lease apartment / 公寓 , which is considered “office” rather than residential, the price would be 25,130 per sqm every 40 years (2026 price, highest level), or 628 rmb/sqm/year, or $7.8/sqm/month.
That is like the rent. The rent of the land.
Or it’s like the property tax.
e.g. SF condo, newly purchased ~$1,030–1,150/sf = ~$11,100–12,400/m²
with 1.1827% of assessed value -> ~$10.9–12.2/m²/mo
Very similar.