The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the organization of public property and approaches to assessing its effectiveness. The analysis of various interpretations of the economic category "property" is carried out to understand the specifics of the functioning of public property and the aspects of the organization and management of private property are studied, as a result of which the peculiarities of the manifestation of traditional property rights in the mechanism of state ownership are highlighted. Based on the identified specifics, the current and long-term effects of the sale of public property are characterized, and a criterion for the effectiveness of its management is proposed, based on a change in the structure and level of satisfaction of the needs of various groups of the population and business. It is proved that the main effective organization of public property is to preserve the functions of strategic management from the real owner - the population, which should be ensured through the implementation of privatization and the mechanism of public responsibility of authorities and business structures.