Based on the remote sensing interpretation, parcel investigation and questionnaire survey methods, this article analyzes the spatio-temporal characteristics of rural housing land of five villages in Yucheng city in the farming area of the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and compares the consolidation potential and effect between different exit criteria. The results showed that: (1) Since the reform and opening up, the rural housing land has expanded dramatically. In the surveyed villages, the area of rural housing land has expanded by 3.7 times. In 2015, average household occupied 1.6 plots of rural housing land, which formed the phenomenon of "one household with multiple houses". In the end, the degree of idleness of rural housing land was as high as 28.5%. (2) Before 2000, the expansion of the rural housing land of the surveyed villages was dominated by the enclave mode, which was replaced by the filled and spread modes after 2000. In terms of villages, the spatial expansion of rural housing land was affected by factors such as the layout of major traffic routes, the endowment of land resources, and the initial layout of villages. (3) The theoretical consolidation potential of rural housing land is huge, saving 56% of the residential land. Two sets of the exit criteria of rural housing land can save 26% and 36% of the residential land, respectively. However, there was a large gap between the realistic potential and the theoretical potential. (4) In the future, it is necessary to explore the macro-institutional mechanisms such as the urbanization of the agricultural transfer population, the compensation system for the exited rural housing land, and the transition of the exited rural housing land to the profitable collective constructive land. At the micro level, the pilot reform should be carried out according to the employment structure of the farmer and local land resource endowment.