Two Chinese megacities lift home purchase curbs to attract buyers
purchase restrictions on Thursday to lure buyers and shore up their sagging real estate markets, raising the prospect of other megacities following suit.
As of May 9, Hangzhou and Xian will no longer vet the eligibility of potential buyers, the cities' housing authorities said in separate notices, shedding requirements previously imposed to deter speculators and block buyers who are not legal residents of the cities or local tax payers.
The last round of China's property boom in many cities ended around 2020-2021 due to the pandemic and also strict borrowing requirements imposed by regulators to contain the towering debts accrued by developers.
Declining home prices in markets, including traditionally hot locations such as Hangzhou, have since chilled buyer sentiment, hitting a sector that once accounted for a quarter of China's economic output.
Authorities have been ramping up measures to prop up the troubled sector, but many of the policies have been piecemeal in nature or have only a limited, short-term impact.
In Hangzhou, capital of wealthy Zhejiang province, new home prices edged up 1.0% year-on-year in March, the slowest pace in nearly six years, according to the latest data from China's statistics bureau.
In April, the city's new home sales stood at 310,000 square metres, slumping 75% year-on-year, a survey from real estate firm CRIC showed.
Then, on April 30, a meeting of Communist Party leaders called for measures to support the property
