Transference Of Rural Homestead From Propertyrights System Perspective

Since the founding of China,rural homestead are owned by rural collectives, which are the living guarantee of farmers. With urbanization, more and more farmers are going to cities to find jobs. And the demand for urban construction land is increasing. Farmers who living in rural area are decreasing, but the rural homestead area is gradually increasing. The contradiction between population structure and land pattern is highlighted. Meanwhile, the current policies prohibit the transference of homestead, which is not conductive to the optimal allocation of land resources and hinder the transfer of rural labor force. The rural homestead policies are incompatible with the status of urbanization. From the property rights system perspective, this paper has analyzed the defects of rural homestead rights, the factors which can influence farmers’ willingness, and the game between different stakeholders on North China.Firstly, this paper conducts a survey in North China through questionnaires. Research shows that the current rural homestead property is limited and is a kind of public welfare property, which has resulted in non-intensive land use and the lack of supervision. Although the laws prohibit the transference of rural homestead, some villages still allow farmers trading homestead secretly.Secondly, this paper analyses the factors which may influence the farmers’ willing to transfer homestead. All factors are taken into three categories: the basic characteristics of farmers and their families, the basic characteristics of the homestead and farmers’ willingness case. Then Logistic regression models are used to analyze these factors. The study shows that the factors which influence farmers most are the proportion of agricultural income, the distance from the city, urban housing wishes and infrastructure satisfaction.Finally, this paper explores the tendentious behavior about the transference of rural homestead of the central government, local government and farmers under the ambiguous property right system, and the necessity to reform the homestead property. The conclusion is that reforming the current rural homestead property rights system and allowing transference rural homestead are the prerequisites of realizing the market value of homestead and the efficient allocation of land resources.