Development of Prefabricated Houses in China

Prefabricated houses in China, especially modular buildings, have developed rapidly in recent years and have become a characteristic and advantageous category in equipment manufacturing exports, achieving significant progress in technology, production, market, and application scenarios.

Technology Development History

China's prefabricated concrete technology began in the 1950s and was initially used for factory and residential construction. In the 1970s, driven by the policy of building industrialization, standardization, and mechanization, technical systems such as large-panel structures and box structures were formed. In the mid-1980s, it stagnated due to cost and quality defects. After the 21st century, it recovered due to production efficiency and environmental advantages. Companies like Vanke Group have developed prefabricated shear wall residential structural systems and applied prefabricated frame technology in projects. For example, the Nanjing Jindi Yufang project adopted a prestressed prefabricated concrete assembled integral frame structural system.

Production Model Innovation

Modular buildings break down buildings into independent unit modules, which are prefabricated in factories and then transported to the site for assembly, enabling parallel operations. Combined with automated three-dimensional warehouses and intelligent production lines, the construction period is shortened by more than 60% compared to traditional buildings. For example, the China Construction Hailong Intelligent Construction Industrial Park in Shenzhen, Guangdong, has an annual delivery capacity of approximately 20,000 to 30,000 modular buildings.

Market Development Trends

Domestically produced 'prefabricated houses' have seen a continuous increase in overseas market recognition due to their advantages of rapid delivery, environmental protection, energy efficiency, strong adaptability, and controllable quality. In the first four months of 2026, enterprises across the country exported movable houses worth 1.68 billion yuan through the Shenzhen port, a year-on-year increase of 19.6%, to more than 150 countries and regions. During the same period, the Guangzhou Customs area exported 1.4 billion yuan worth, a year-on-year increase of 38.1%. In the first seven months of this year, the Shatian Customs under the Huangpu Customs supervised the export of 23 batches of modular houses with a value of 548 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.3 times. The ASEAN market has shown outstanding growth, while also covering more than 20 countries and regions including the United Kingdom and Australia. Market research institutions predict that by 2030, the global market size for modular buildings will exceed 142.8 billion US dollars.

Application Scenario Expansion

Modular buildings have been widely used in hotels, senior living apartments, dormitories, and office buildings. The global construction of data centers has boosted their popularity overseas. For example, CIMC Digital Energy Equipment Co., Ltd. in Jiangmen has delivered a cumulative total of over 1,000 megawatts of installed capacity in modular prefabricated data center projects, covering Malaysia, Indonesia, the Middle East, Italy, etc. Domestically, such as the affordable housing project in Shenzhen, Guangdong, which was assembled from 6,028 concrete modules, the completion and delivery period was reduced from 2.5 - 3 years to 1 year, on-site labor was reduced by about 50%, and disturbances such as noise, dust, construction waste, and traffic congestion were significantly reduced.