'Rent Instead of Buy' Becomes New Consumer Trend, China's Rental Economy Reaches Nearly 19 Trillion Yuan
China's rental economy exceeded 4.2 trillion yuan (approximately 18.9 trillion NTD) in 2024, a 32% year-on-year increase, serving over 750 million people. This trend is driven by the 'rent instead of buy' consumer philosophy, particularly popular among the post-2000 generation, whose orders doubled year-on-year. The Chinese government has also officially designated 'second-hand goods rental' as a key new consumption format for support and cultivation, promoting industry standardization.
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- 📰 Published: June 4, 2026 at 12:44
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(Central News Agency, Taipei, 4th) 'Rent instead of buy' has become a new consumption concept for many young Chinese people. Data shows that China's rental economy scale exceeded 4.2 trillion yuan (approximately 18.9 trillion NTD) in 2024.
According to a report by Hong Kong 01 today, a white paper titled 'Healthy Development of the Consumer Rental Industry under the Circular Economy Background,' compiled by the Development Research Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation and Ant Group, shows that China's rental economy scale surpassed 4.2 trillion yuan in 2024, a 32% year-on-year increase, serving over 750 million person-times.
The report states that the rental economy traditionally focused on ultra-high-value items like housing and cars. However, current rental services now cover over 200 categories, including digital products, office equipment, and robots.
Furthermore, the 'new' rental economy offers more flexible and diverse rental methods and durations. Besides physical rental stores, users can place orders on online platforms with low or even no deposit. The platform ships the goods via courier, and users return them the same way after use.
The white paper indicates that in 2024, orders from users born after 2000 (the 'post-00s' generation) surged by two times year-on-year, and users under 30 accounted for over 60% of total rental consumption. One reason is the shift in young people's consumption values, emphasizing 'experience over ownership,' a preference for satisfying immediate needs and pursuing novelty, which aligns perfectly with rental consumption.
On the other hand, the rental consumption model offers high cost-effectiveness, with various digital products topping the consumer rental preference list. These products, which can cost thousands or tens of thousands of yuan, can be rented for just tens of yuan per day.
The report also mentions that nine Chinese government departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, issued a 'Notice on Implementing Green Consumption Promotion Actions' earlier this year. For the first time, 'second-hand goods rental' was explicitly listed as a new consumption format for official key support and cultivation. This signifies that 'rent instead of buy' is no longer just a market-driven behavior; the rental industry is entering a phase of policy-guided, standardized development, becoming part of the Chinese government's consumption promotion strategy. (Editor: Zhou Huiying / Chen Kaiyu) 1150604
According to a report by Hong Kong 01 today, a white paper titled 'Healthy Development of the Consumer Rental Industry under the Circular Economy Background,' compiled by the Development Research Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation and Ant Group, shows that China's rental economy scale surpassed 4.2 trillion yuan in 2024, a 32% year-on-year increase, serving over 750 million person-times.
The report states that the rental economy traditionally focused on ultra-high-value items like housing and cars. However, current rental services now cover over 200 categories, including digital products, office equipment, and robots.
Furthermore, the 'new' rental economy offers more flexible and diverse rental methods and durations. Besides physical rental stores, users can place orders on online platforms with low or even no deposit. The platform ships the goods via courier, and users return them the same way after use.
The white paper indicates that in 2024, orders from users born after 2000 (the 'post-00s' generation) surged by two times year-on-year, and users under 30 accounted for over 60% of total rental consumption. One reason is the shift in young people's consumption values, emphasizing 'experience over ownership,' a preference for satisfying immediate needs and pursuing novelty, which aligns perfectly with rental consumption.
On the other hand, the rental consumption model offers high cost-effectiveness, with various digital products topping the consumer rental preference list. These products, which can cost thousands or tens of thousands of yuan, can be rented for just tens of yuan per day.
The report also mentions that nine Chinese government departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, issued a 'Notice on Implementing Green Consumption Promotion Actions' earlier this year. For the first time, 'second-hand goods rental' was explicitly listed as a new consumption format for official key support and cultivation. This signifies that 'rent instead of buy' is no longer just a market-driven behavior; the rental industry is entering a phase of policy-guided, standardized development, becoming part of the Chinese government's consumption promotion strategy. (Editor: Zhou Huiying / Chen Kaiyu) 1150604