北京收紧购房的限制

Beijing's municipal government announced on Friday that it plans to tighten home buying retrictions. That came after prices surged in the Tongzhou area.

China is suffering from a year-long slump in the housing market as many cities across the country are having home surpluses. But it is a different picture in major metropolises like Beijing. In Tongzhou District, a south-eastern suburb of the capital, home prices in the past seven months have risen more than that of the entire year last year. That's fuelled by expectations it would become a sub-administrative center for the local government.

Under the new rule, non-residents of Tongzhou and those who have not paid social insurance or taxes there for at least three years, are barred from buying second homes in the area. For people without Beijing housing registration, they must have paid more than five-years worth of taxes or social insurance with three-years of that registered in Tongzhou to buy their first home in the district.

Officials say the specific home buying restrictions only applies the district of Tongzhou, where they believe developers are exploiting the recent spotlight surrounding the area, and distort market order by lifting prices.