Analysis of the Impact of Ownership on Construction Land Prices Under Government Decision-Making Regulations in China: An Empirical Research Based on Micro-Level Land Transaction Data

Under China’s dual urban-rural land ownership system, the unequal legal status of collective and state-owned land hinders the realization of “equal rights and equal prices” for both. This paper analyzed the impact of ownership on construction land prices using micro-level land transaction data from Wujin District, Changzhou City from 2015 to 2021, and investigated the role of government decision-making in this relationship. The results show that collective ownership has a negative impact on land prices, and the development of adjacent COCL has a positive impact on land prices. Besides, the planning scope of downtown areas determined by spatial planning enhances the negative impact of collective ownership on land prices, thus widening the price gap between state and collective-owned land within the downtown areas. Furthermore, the proportion of COCL in the annual land supply determined by land supply plan strengthens the negative impact of collective ownership on land prices, meaning that a increase in COCL supply leads to further downward pressure on land prices. This study can provide insights for policy-making aiming to achieve “equal rights and equal prices” for land of different ownership in China and in other countries with a dual land ownership system.