Mega Chinese cities ease home-buying restrictions

Major Chinese cities of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen eased their home-buying restrictions on Sunday following the central government's announcement to support cities in autonomously optimizing their real estate policies to boost local property markets.

Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province has lifted all restrictions on buying properties.

Starting on Monday, qualifications for purchasing a home will no longer be reviewed and there will be no ceiling on home buying and no restriction on home buyers, as families and single individuals with or without local household registration in the city all can purchase housing, according to a circular issued by the municipal government on Sunday night.

The city of Shenzhen in Guangdong also announced measures such as reducing the down payment ratio and optimizing district-specific home purchase restrictions.

Shanghai further eased its property policy by allowing more people to buy a home at a lower cost and in a shorter period of time. The minimum down payment ratio for individual commercial mortgages will be reduced from 20 percent to 15 percent for first-home purchases, and from 35 percent to 25 percent for second homes.

The non-Shanghai residents intending to buy a home outside the city's Outer Ring Road will qualify if they have paid social security or personal income tax for at least one year, against the previous standard of a minimum of three years.

According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, local governments in major cities should use their autonomy to adjust housing purchase restrictions. They should address the surplus of new commodity housing, optimize the current housing stock, and enhance the quality of homes available for sale.

Urban real estate financing mechanisms should be strengthened by increasing loan approvals for housing projects and addressing their reasonable financing needs, thus ensuring successful delivery of housing developments, according to the ministry.

"The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development is encouraging city governments, especially those of first-tier cities, to effectively use their regulatory power in the real estate market. I believe this will boost confidence in the housing markets of first-tier cities and nationwide. First-tier cities serve as a barometer for the entire real estate market of the country, so a recovery in their housing markets can help boost the national market and promote a quicker rebound," said Wang Ruimin, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Market Economy, Development Research Center of the State Council. Business insiders expect that the optimization of housing purchase policies in first-tier cities will speed up. This includes actions like lifting more loan restrictions and reducing down payment ratios and mortgage rates.

"The latest adjustments to loan and purchase restrictions have lowered the threshold for homebuyers, which will greatly increase the demand for upgraded housing. This demand, along with the new interest in home buying from citizens driven by these policy changes, will help stimulate the circulation of both new and second-hand homes in the market," said Li Yujia, a research fellow of the Guangdong Urban and Rural Planning and Design Institute.

Mega Chinese cities ease home-buying restrictions

China's transport sector is expected to handle 1.94 billion passenger trips nationwide during the week-long National Day holiday starting from Oct 1.

The peak of passenger departures is expected on Oct 1, and the returning passenger flow is expected to increase gradually from Oct 5.

On Monday, the day before the holiday, China's railway network is expected to handle 17.5 million passenger trips and has added 1,566 additional trains.

Railway staff have been making special preparations to ensure safety during the travel rush.

"We have weaved traditional Chinese ropes of five colors, namely red, yellow, blue, green and purple, to stand for the passengers who need our help, including the old, the young, the sick, the disabled and the pregnant. In this way, the railway staff can be clear about those passengers' needs and difficulties, so as to serve them better," said Xiao Rui, a conductor on the Mudanjiang passenger railway line in northeast China.

On the country's highways, daily traffic is expected to reach about 61 million vehicles during the holiday. Flows are expected to grow from 16:00 on Monday and peak between 19:00 to midnight.

The civil aviation sector is expected to embrace the travel peak on Monday evening until Tuesday. Popular destinations for fliers include the cities of Chengdu in southeast China, Shanghai in east China, Guangzhou in the country's south, and tropical Sanya on the island province of Hainan.

The two civil airports in Beijing are expected to handle more than 2.3 million passengers with more than 14,599 flights during the holiday.

The country's water transport system is expected to handle more than 1 million passenger trips during the holiday, mainly for touring and family reunions.

China expects 1.94 billion passenger trips in National Day holiday travel rush