China douses heated housing market with cooling measures
Updated 10:19, 28-Jun-2018
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Over the past week, a handful of Chinese cities introduced new restrictions on property purchases in an attempt to curb the country’s skyrocketing housing prices.
Cooling measures, including higher down payments and banning second ownership, were announced during the seven-day National Day holiday in 19 Chinese cities.
The capital city of Beijing took the lead last Friday, increasing the down payment required for first-time buyers to at least 35 percent of the property price, while owners of a second property must now pay up to 70 percent of the total price.
The southern city of Shenzhen, currently the most expensive city in the country in terms of average housing price, has rolled out a host of rigid measures on Wednesday, including lifting the down payment to 50 percent for anyone who is not making their first property purchase.
Several cities like eastern Chinese cities Hangzhou and Nanjing have announced price caps in government land auctions to limit home price increases, while some have been putting up land for sale to increase supply in the short to medium term, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Prices in 100 major Chinese cities rose 14.9 percent in the first nine months of 2016, with August and September seeing record month-on-month growth of more than 2 percent.This is news text.
Over the years, the weeklong holiday period has proven to be a peak time for housing purchase in China. This year, year-on-year transaction volume in first- and second-tier cities dropped by more than 30 percent, China Daily reported.
The Chinese government will continue to focus on destocking excess houses, especially in lower-tier cities, while implementing city-specific policies to tackle sharp housing price rises in higher-tier cities or cities with low stocks, according to Xinhua.