There is not exception, whether It a developed or developing country, the housing Industry is always the major concern. This is because the industry is quite closely related to the economic and social development of a country, and it can exert a great
Influence on the economic fluctuations and social stability. In this new century, our nation are heading to the medium-developed country and our people live ore moving to the demand phase after living a comparatively comfortable life.
In the recent 20 years, with the strong push of the residential system reform, China's residential construction has achieved a big success. At present, the stratification of path demand and supply of residential market turning to be clearer, the competitive edge of the developing companies has move from project competition to brand competition, even to the core competitive ability of the company as a whole. The industrial chain of the housing industry is coming into being. Our residential Industry is moving out of the phenomenal phase, In which the marketing and advertising are copying each other and too much emphasis on the conception building, into a reasonable phase in which the emphasis is placed on the market research, the improvement of the quality of housing and the long-term development strategy of the whole company. It’s the high time for out residential industry to upgrade and adjust. It is quite obvious and necessary for us to make a careful research on the experiences of the countries across the world

The Comparison of the Housing Development among 13 Countries
According to the statistics about the member countries from International Housing Association (IHA) and the relative information from the statistical statement of 2001 national economic and social development of China, we come up with such a contrast sheet after editing and converting,
We can get the following analysis from "sheet one"
1. The average GDP level of our country is not high, which only count 1/36 of America, 1/27 of France, 1/38 of Japan, t/4 of Malaysia.
2. Our hosing industry is in a fast developing period, and the ratio between total hosing construction every year and the total housing available at present is 4.36%, which is 3.1 times of America, 4.4 times of France and 1.7 times of Japan.
3. Our average hosing area is the lowest, for an average house, there lives 4 Chinese, 2.4 Americans, 2.1 French and 2.6 Japanese.
It is out of the question that the development of housing and the average GDP level is closely related. Our GDP increased by 7.3% in 2001, the income of urban residents and the rural residents increased by 8.5% and 4.2% respectively. The commercial residential investment from January to November increased by 30.5% proportionately and the ratio for the newly started construction is 30.4%. Thus we can see that the increase of our investment on housing is bigger than that of the income of residents, but how long can this trend sustained? The housing demand for Chinese residents is potential, it relies heavily on the purchasing power of our residents to release the potential and create the market. So the effective increase of residents' income, the promotion of housing mortgage system, the institution of a complete and reasonable housing taxation system, the measures improving the properly quality and other means will be quite beneficial to mobilize the positive elements of demand and supply. All these above are the successful experiences of other countries and we should put them into contrast and the author will publish more articles for discussions.
The 100-year housing development in America The data from "sheet two" shows the developing track of American housing industry from 1900 to 2001.
We can make the following analysis according to the data from "sheet two"
1. The average income of Chinese residents is 4090 RMB (urban: 6860, rural: 2366 RMB), the ratio of urbanization is about 37%, the two items above is grossly equal the levels of the early 20th century in America;
2. After the world war two (before and after 1950).
America sees a fast development in its housing construction. The new supply in 1950 is 4.5% of the total supply, which is close to the present number of China, and it keeps a stable increase in the later 50 years. The average increase annually is 1.28 million houses during that 50 years, and total housing supply increased by 1.49 times.
3. The average family Income during the 50 years in America increased by 12.6 times, which is the base for the stable development of its housing construction.

Housing and Economy
The housing is quite critical to both the national economic activities and individual assets. The following information explains the relativity between housing and economy, (The data is from National Association of Housing and Building, report 2001): The new construction and replacement of housing cover 4% of the national economic activities, which is about 328 billion USS per year (340 billion RMB per year in China). After the September 11th 2001, the housing plays a more important role in the economic recovery.
One third of the GDP increase if from housing industry, the housing industry covers 14% of GDP (6% for China).
The housing industry covers more than 1/7 of American total output.
The housing covers a biggest portion of the net assets of the residents, and the accumulation of personal assets is started from housing, the allocation of American national total assets:
Housing 44.4%
Auto 8.3%
Stock 8.4%
Retirement pension insurance 8.3%
Deposit 1.4%
Other 29.2%
Thus, the stable increase of housing industry is quite beneficial to the country and her people, We can set people's mind at rest only through guarantee the appreciation of housing, which is the key of keeping the housing industry in an increasing manner, We should attach more importance not only to the amount of newly constructed housing, but also to the improvement of its quality as well as proper foresight. We should not only avoid the vacant houses at present but also leave an appreciation margin for the already sold-out houses, not leaving them as vacant houses. That is the real sustainable development,

The Development Perspective of American Housing Industry
In the past four years, the American government put forward a new strategy for housing development:” Smart growth Smart choice”, keeping the continuous increase and provide enough choice for the housing market.
The developers put forward their new development ideas accordingly:
If your object is a specific individual, the goal is to satisfy the owner's special demand and cater to the individualism;
If your object is neighborhood and community, every house you build should appreciate to promote the development of the community and the whole area.
The five principles of 'Smart growth' Smart choice "at American housing industry
1. Try to satisfy the housing demands of all people with diverse and multiple level houses every community has to be able to support the local economic activities and cater to the increase of population and housing demand;
Every citizen of America has the right to choose freely where to live and what kind of house they will live in.
2. Try to make a comprehensive developing program
The local authority must make a long-term plan to satisfy the land demand for residency, business, and recreational, industrial as well as open land.
3. Try to innovate the land development model, improve the efficiency of land use
The land development model has to be innovated to promote the comprehensive use of land and the development of pedestrian area;
a comprehensive balance has to be stricken, thus the density of one area is higher and more vacant land can be left in another area, The local authority should understand the necessity to improve the policies and standards of land use at present, thus to ensure the healthy development.
4. Try to accommodate the long-term demand for infrastructure of the area
The governments of all levels should adopt a balanced and reliable way of investment, and should pay the expenses of the relative roads, schools, water supply and drain and other infrastructure;
Revitalizing the old city and near suburban area systematically.
Activate the market of old city and near suburban market, the intensive development means has peen proven to be the useful universal way across the globe,

My Understanding
American housing policy is obviously tailored to the present American market, comparatively, shouldn't the following items worth our consideration?
At present, the housing construction is still developing in the form of neighborhood, and the projects become bigger and bigger, kind of like city building movement. Besides, the neighbor hoods share a lot of similarities; most of them are directed to the medium and high-income housing with medium and high density. We can imagine, after the majority has got their own house from the housing reform, does the market need so many similar houses? This may be one of the reasons why the medium and high-end housing maintain a vacancy level. We should be clear that our housing market has come to such a phase that the demand and consuming has been classified. After the market demand is satisfied in its initial state, it's not proper to follow blindly.
We should segment the market and provide a big variety of houses with corresponding demand.
Our county embraces scare land resources, and we should make deep research on a multiple reasonable land developing models, to make use of the land more effectively, Since most land adopt the model of bid and tender, the capacity of a neighborhood is naturally limited by the price of land, even in suburban middle and small cities, the developers have to build medium high rises neighborhood, which results in the building cost and high vacancy rates because it can1' be accepted by the market.
We should make a careful research on the relationship between housing development and the development of economy, employment, the natural population growth, non-local residents and other elements, For example, the small houses are quite popular in many cities recently, the reason is because the majority of the consumers become younger and it is also related to employment.
Besides, the low-density houses including independent and row houses are started being built in recent years, which means there is a demand in the market, especially for those relocating people who will move to a different place or cheese a low-density houses when they are economically ok. But the market is not ripe at present; some villas are going after big area and super luxury, not applicable actually. The independent house of American has developed for 100 years and the mainstream house is still the three-room house between 112 and 186 square meters, on the otherwise, most of the villas in our country are above 200 square meters, some even to 1000 square meters. In fact the big area is not the main element of low-density houses, some directions and regulations are badly needed for the Jaw-density to avoid the waste of resources and vacancies.
The contrast analysis of housing industry between China and other countries should also included the analysis of the tax system of housing industry, the analysis of planning, design, technology, product and many other aspects. The author will cover those topics in articles later.