SHENZHEN has further eased home-purchasing restrictions to stimulate demand in its property market. Announced Friday by the city’s housing and construction bureau and effective Saturday, the measures relax limits in non?core urban areas — defined as areas other than Futian and Nanshan districts and Xin’an Subdistrict in Bao’an District.
Under the new rules, families with Shenzhen household registration (hukou) and those who have paid social insurance and individual income taxes in the city for at least one year may buy an unlimited number of homes in Luohu, Bao’an (excluding Xin’an Subdistrict), Longgang, Longhua, Pingshan, and Guangming districts.
Buyers without Shenzhen social insurance or tax records may purchase up to two homes in those same districts.
Purchase restrictions are fully lifted in Yantian District and Dapeng New Area — there are no residency, social insurance, or tax requirements and no limits on the number of homes buyers may acquire.
The policy also removes the previous gap between single and family buyers by subjecting unmarried adults to the same purchase limits as households.
Additionally, the city has introduced measures to reduce mortgage interest rates and eased home purchasing restrictions for enterprises and institutions.
The move follows a broader national trend of loosening property controls lately. In June, Guangzhou relaxed purchase rules, and Beijing and Shanghai announced similar measures in August.
Shenzhen’s latest policy changes are well received by industry analysts, who expect them to help stabilize the market.
“Shenzhen’s policy is more forceful than those in Beijing and Shanghai and will effectively unlock pent?up demand, giving the market the momentum it needs to stop falling and stabilize,” said Li Yujia, chief researcher at the Housing Policy Research Center of the Guangdong Urban and Rural Planning Institute.
Liu Xiaobo, a property expert in Shenzhen, added that the package should both free up local demand for improved housing and attract purchasing power from other cities, helping Shenzhen’s market find a floor and begin to recover.
Shenzhen issued house purchasing restrictions in 2010 and tightened them further until 2020. However, it began to gradually ease them in 2021 after the property market entered a downward trend.
According to August data published last week by China Real Estate Information Corp., new home sales by China’s top 100 developers plunged 17.6% year on year, extending a six-month decline. (Tang Li) | 