Harbin, Xiamen latest in easing curbs on housing purchase

Two more second-tier Chinese cities withdrew their home purchase limits over the weekend following other second- and third-tier cities, triggering speculation whether first-tier cities will follow suit.

But experts warned that the housing authorities of first-tier cities, where demand for homes is very strong, must be cautious in relaxing home purchase restrictions.

The residents of Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, will not be required to offer documentary evidence of units of apartments owned by a family when they plan to buy apartments, including new and existing ones, according to a notice published Saturday by the Harbin Housing Security and Real Estate Management Bureau.

That means Harbin will completely withdraw its home purchase restriction policies, which have been implemented in 46 major Chinese cities since 2011 as part of the central government's efforts to curb property speculation. Harbin has implemented purchase restrictions since February 2011.

Xiamen in East -China's Fu-jian Province also lifted its home purchase limits for seve-ral districts of the city, according to a statement released Friday by Xiamen Bureau of Land Resources and Real Estate Management.

After China's central government vowed in March to adopt different property macro-control measures on different cities, second- and third-tier cities began to relax their home purchase limits, with Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, becoming the first city to officially announce the relaxation of purchase restrictions in June.

So far, only 11 cities including four first-tier cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen - have not adjusted their home purchase limits, local media reported.

"The remaining second- and third-tier cities might also relax their home purchase limits further sooner or later because of their heavy home inventories," Chen Baocun, an expert with Beijing-based Asian-Pacific City Research Institute, told the Global Times Sunday.

However, the first-tier cities "should be cautious about relaxing their home purchase limits as home prices in these cities are witnessing obvious year-on-year increases despite slight month-on-month drops," Fan Jianping, chief economist at the State Information Center, was quoted by China Securities Journal as saying Saturday.

In Shanghai, home prices declined by 0.6 percent in June month-on-month, but still witnessed a 7 percent year-on-year growth, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on July 18. The bureau is scheduled to release the July figures on Monday.

Shanghai will possibly ease its home purchase limits by allowing more homebuyers to enjoy discounts on mortgage loan interest rates, according to a notice issued by a commercial bank which was seen on Weibo late Saturday.

The local residents of Shanghai, who have taken mortgage loans for no more than two times and have repaid them all, and also don't own any homes [meaning they have sold previously bought homes] when they plan to buy an apartment in the city, will be considered as the first-time homebuyers, according to the notice.

Currently in Shanghai, first-time homebuyers can enjoy as much as 20 percent off the interest rate of mortgage loans.

Previously, if homebuyers had taken mortgage loans, they were not considered as first-time homebuyers.