Exploring the increasing role of the real estate sector in the Chinese economy : 1997-2002

The Chinese government launched a series of real estate reform policies in 1998, which further changed the real estate sector from socialist plan-oriented to modern marketoriented. This paper compares the role of the real estate sector in the Chinese economy in years 1997 and 2002 by using the recently published input-output OECD database. Results verify that the Chinese real estate sector played an increasing role in the Chinese economy with higher contributions and stronger push and pull power in 2002 than those in 1997. However, compared with other countries, especially for some OECD countries, the Chinese real estate sector has a relative lower contribution.<br />