Three more Chinese local governments announced the abolition of all home purchase restrictions on Thursday, bringing to more than 30 the number of local governments that have done away with the measures in a bid to revive their flagging home markets.
To help track when and where the restrictions have been lifted, Mingtiandi has put together the China home purchase restriction removal map, and the accompanying home purchase restriction removal timeline.
Mapping the Policy Changes
The map above shows the locations of 27 cities or provinces where relaxations or removal of home purchase restrictions have been announced this year.
- Red markers — restrictions have been totally lifted
- Yellow markers — restrictions partially lifted
- Beige markers — financial incentives
Click on each marker for policy details
More Cities Making Changes
The announcement last week by the governments of the cities of Xi’an, Hangzhou and Guiyang that they would do away with the rules once intended to cool raging home prices have now been removed in more than 65 percent of the 47 cities where they had been put in place since 2010.
The greatest concentration of policy changes have come in Zhejiang, where five city governments have announced policy changes, with four of these being total removals of restrictions. The province’s capital of Hangzhou, which has been among the communities worst hit by recent price slides has the distinction of announcing two rounds of policy changes, first removing some restrictions, and then abolishing them altogether as of Friday.
Zhejiang’s neighbors in Jiangsu province had the next greatest number of policy changes with the cities of Wuxi and Suzhou lifting some restrictions, and Xuzhou abolishing all measures.
Some provinces, such as Sichuan, Jiangxi and Fujian have instituted province-wide preferential mortgage policies, although Sichuan is said to have withdrawn these because of a lack of interest.
Policy Changes Accelerating
While the changes started slowly with just one city adjusting the rules in April and a second joining in during May, the pace has quickened in recent weeks. During July, nine governments announced changes in the restrictions, and in August that number increased to 15.
Just click the arrows to follow the timeline through each new measure, and click on any of the markers to get the details.
Looking to Rekindle the Market
Local governments that rely on land sales for as much as 80 percent of their revenues are loath to see their home markets collapse, and average housing prices have been sliding steadily since early this year.
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in July average home prices slid by 0.9 percent nationwide. The slide was the third consecutive monthly drop with the rate of price decrease increasing compared to from a 0.5 percent slide in June and a 0.2 percent drop in May.
[…] China Home Purchase Restrictions Disappear – The Complete Timeline: Rules once intended to cool soaring home prices have now been removed in more than two thirds of the 47 cities that had them. The move hopes to revive China’s flagging housing markets which slid 0.2%, 0.5% and 0.9% from May-July this year. Local Governments rely on land sales for as much as 80% of their revenue. In related news, just 12 property tycoons were included in China’s top-100 richest households this year, down from 24 last year. […]