Chinese cities optimize home-buying policies with relaxed restrictions, trade-ins

BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Many Chinese cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Xi'an and Chengdu, have adjusted real estate policies, with measures such as eased purchase restrictions and the trade-ins of commercial housing, to further release the housing demand and promote the healthy development of the real estate market.

As the latest moves, Hangzhou and Xi'an on Thursday announced the full removal of earlier restrictions related to home purchases. Prospective buyers no longer need to meet pre-existing conditions, such as the local hukou (residence permit), local social security and the number of apartments each buyer is allowed to purchase.

Similarly, Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, lifted the restrictions for home buyers from late April. This greatly stimulated the housing market over the May Day holiday in the city.

Wei Junqing, sales and marketing manager of a property development company in Chengdu, said the company secured a total transaction volume of 350 million yuan (about 49.3 million U.S. dollars) from May 1 to 5, with the daily number of sold apartments surging by 80 to 150 percent compared with previous days.

Zhang Meiyun, a client from north China's Shanxi Province, visited several new properties for sale over the holiday.

"Since there are no qualification restrictions for home buyers here, we are planning to buy an apartment for ourselves so that we can settle in the city to stay with our daughter's family," said Zhang.

In Beijing, a notice issued on April 30 gave local families with the Beijing hukou permission to buy one additional commercial house outside the fifth ring road even if they already own two apartments in Beijing. Single adults with Beijing hukou and non-Beijing residents who have a record of paying social insurance or income tax in the city for at least five consecutive years are allowed to purchase one more property outside the fifth ring road even if they already own one apartment in the city.

In the neighboring Tianjin Municipality, residents with local hukou do not need extra qualifications to buy a new apartment larger than 120 square meters in six districts in the urban area. Those with a Beijing or Hebei Province hukou, or those working there, can enjoy the same purchase policy as residents with a Tianjin hukou.

Boosted by these moves, the daily second-hand apartment transaction number from May 1 to 5 rose by 43 percent, 28 percent and 19 percent in Beijing, Chengdu and Tianjin, respectively, according to real estate chain Lianjia.

While some cities have taken various measures to ease purchase limits, some cities, including Dalian and Nanjing, have announced trade-in promotions, encouraging residents to trade their old homes for new ones.

In Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, 2,000 apartments in the city were brought to the market by the Anju Construction Group on April 27 as a trial trade-in project.

Wang Huhao, deputy general manager of the group, said if a client agrees with the trade-in deal, the client should pay the price difference to have a new apartment, and the company will have his or her old home.

"The project had attracted nearly 4,000 inquiries as of May 5," said Wang, adding that the old apartments will be further used for the purpose of affordable housing or the settlement of talent introduced to the city.

Zhang Hui, deputy head of the Nanjing Real Estate Association, said for customers who buy new apartments to improve their housing, the new trade-in mode has simplified the procedures of trading their old homes in exchange for new ones and also saved the brokerage fee to sell their old homes.

A Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau meeting held on April 30 demanded research on policies to reduce housing inventory and improve the quality of newly-added housing, noting that efforts should be pushed ahead to establish a new model of the real estate sector to promote its high-quality development.

Chen Wenjing, director of research at the China Index Academy, said the meeting has set the direction for future real estate policies with further optimization and adjustment measures expected.