中国多城市给房地产降温

This past Friday, municipal officials in Beijing became the latest to bow to pressure on home prices, increasing down payments for first-time purchasers to a minimum of 35 percent, one of the highest levels among China's biggest cities.

Just hours later, the neighboring municipality of Tianjin followed in Beijing's footsteps, banning people without a local hukou from buying a second property in the downtown area, as well as increasing down payments for non-residents buying properties in the city's downtown locations to over 40 percent.

Then over the weekend, the local government in Anhui's capital, Hefei, unveiled 10 new tightening measures, which includes suspending sales of new properties to Hefei families who already own two or more properties.

Authorities in Shandong's capital, Jinan, are also capping people registered in that city to owning three properties.

They've also increased down payment requirements for those buying their first home to 30 percent from 20 percent.

In the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu, buyers of second homes are now required to pay a minimum 40 percent down payment, an increase of 10 percent.

Authorities in Henan's capital, Zhengzhou, are restricting residents who already own two properties and non-residents who own one to purchasing homes which are larger than 180-square meters.

Prospective buyers in Sichuan's capital, Chengdu, are now only allowed to purchase one property in certain city districts, and those buying their second property will need to place a down payment of no less than 40 percent of the purchase price.

Zhang Dawei, analyist with Chinese real estate firm Centaline Properties, says the new policies, particularly in Beijing, are meant to send a singal to those hoping to cash-in on property speculation.

"The tightened loan policies and the amended standards for the municipal authorities to define second-home buyers in Beijing are a strong signal, and one which hasn't been seen since the central authorities began stimulating the real estate market over a year ago. This, combined with a promise of more housing starts by the government, this should help put a lid on dramatic home price increases."

The latest stats from the National Bureau of Statistics show the average price of a new home in the 70 major cities it observers climbed by 9.2 percent in August, up from 7.9 percent annualized growth seen in July.

Yang Hongxu with market research firm E-house China says the moves being taken in China's major cities to curb housing costs are unlikely to have a major impact right away, suggesting it may take until the middle of next year for prices to stabilize.

"The restrictions will curb demand. A reduction in purchases is very likely. But, it will only have a limited effect on prices, what aren't likely to drop immediately. In my opinion, prices are likely to slow down mostly through the second half of the coming year."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Land and Resources says its goal of unifying property registration across the country is still on-pace to be completed by the end of this year.

Around half of the country is under the new registration system as of August.

Under the new system, property registration is handled by a single department, and is meant to stop people from finding loopholes in the system to purchase more properties.

The new registration system is also expected to pave the way for a long-anticipated property tax system.