Property market controls are expected to remain tight as China’s 3rd and 4th-tier cities follow the lead of the larger urban centres with the launch of tough new real estate policies.
Analysts see no sign of a loosening of China’s property market controls in the near-term, and forecast the launch of new round of tightening policies by third and fourth-tier cities in September and October.
On 13 September the Xi’an municipal government issued a notice for the temporary suspension of home sales to registered local residents who already own two or more residential properties (including properties owned by both members of married couples and children who have yet not come of age), as well as non-local residents who own one or more residential properties.
Non-local residents who are not home-owners are permitted to purchase one residential property if they can provide personal income tax or social welfare documentation for the past two or more years.
Xi’an home sales ban follows the launch of property tightening policies by other third and fourth-tier cities whose housing markets are rapidly heating up.
At the end of August the Gansu province capital of Lanzhou expanded its sales restrictions in certain parts of the city, as well as raised the down payment for home loans to local Lanzhou residents, while the Jiangsu-province city of Yangzhou expanded its price filing scope from new standard commercial residential property to non-standard commercial residential property as well as car parks and storage facilities.
Another Jiangsu-province urban centre, the Yangtze River city of Taizhou, has also introduced expanded the price filing scope, and placed a ban on the sale of commercial residential property for two years following the time of purchase.
Authorities around China are striving to contain overheating property markets, with Beijing, Jiangsu and Shenzhen all cracking down on the illicit use of consumer and personal business loans for home purchases.
