East Asia

Shanghai, other top tier-1 cities ease ownership curbs in boost for China’s housing market

Three of China’s biggest cities have further relaxed home purchase restrictions, days after the government unleashed its biggest stimulus package to shore up confidence among homebuyers and help end a four-year property market rout.

Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, will remove all curbs on homebuying from today, according to an announcement. Shanghai, the mainland’s financial and commercial centre, and the tech hub of Shenzhen also loosened requirements for non-locals to own a flat in both cities.

The three cities unveiled their new housing policies on late Sunday, ahead of the week-long National Day holiday starting on October 1.

The decisions came hot on the heels of the central government’s actions last week to rescue the property market that included instructions for commercial banks to trim mortgage rates, lessening the loan servicing burden by 150 billion yuan (US$21.4 billion) annually. Down payments on second home purchases were also reduced.

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Chinese consumers are tightening their belts: What does that mean for the rest of the world?

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“Significant steps are being taken to encourage homebuying during the coming holiday,” said Yan Zhancai, a sales consultant in Shanghai at an outlet of Lianjia, owned by China’s largest real estate brokerage KE Holdings. “Pent-up demand will be released and we expect to receive a lot of inquiries from buyers.”

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