In one of the first studies of its kind, Taubman College faculty member Lan Deng examines how China’s real estate development industry became highly concentrated before the COVID-19 pandemic and how this concentration has exacerbated the ongoing housing market crisis in China.

While analysts frequently attribute the crisis to China’s tax system, land finance, state intervention, and various other factors, Deng, professor of urban and regional planning, identified three factors that contributed to China’s real estate industry concentration: access to low-cost capital, an open land market system, and the use of pre-sale business practices.