CRI听力:More Chinese Cities Loosen Home Purchase Restrictions

Shaoxing in east China's Zhejiang Province and Taiyuan in western Shanxi are the latest Chinese cities to have loosened home purchase restrictions.

Over half of the cities that imposed restrictions three years ago to curb soaring housing prices have eased those policies in some form.

Housing markets are showing mixed results.

Property sales in Jinan almost doubled last month from the month earlier.

Numbers in some other cities, including Xiamen, remain flat after the policy change.

The latest official figures are suggesting new home prices in 100 Chinese cities have dropped over 0.8 percent from June.

For more on the situation, we are joined live on the line by Gao Shang, analyst with Guangtong Futures.

Talk Point:

1. What are the reasons behind the mixed results?

2. In cases like Jinan, is it just the policy change that's working in these cities, or is something else contributing to the increased activity in the property market?

3. As the country has promised more investment in the real estate sector, is the the property market likely to gain strength in the coming months, or at least stablize?

That was Gao Shang, analyst with Guangtong Futures.