What’s new: Southern Chinese metropolis Guangzhou has eased home purchase curbs on foreign nationals, as well as buyers from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, in its latest effort to prop up the housing market.
Non-Chinese mainland buyers are now allowed to buy an unlimited number of homes larger than 120 square meters in the city. Previously, non-locals were permitted to buy only one home. However, in the five urban districts with homebuying restrictions they can still only buy one residence smaller than 120 square meters.
Guangzhou has also scrapped another restriction which barred foreigners and residents from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan buying an unlimited number of commercial properties.
“All real estate companies have received verbal notifications from the housing authority, but no official documents have been issued,” one property company executive told Caixin.
The context: Guangzhou has taken the boldest move among China’s four biggest cities to ease homebuying restrictions in the recent round of market revitalizing efforts.
In late January, the city of 1.9 million people removed the restriction on buying homes larger than 120 square meters and narrowed curbs on the purchase of smaller homes to only five urban districts. The relaxed policy applies to non-local buyers, but some may not be aware of it, so the government decided to clarify it again, according to an industry insider.
However, some analysts expected the latest easing measure to have limited effects, as foreign buyers have long made up a small portion of the city's housing market. According to government data, Guangzhou had 83,000 residents holding non-Chinese passports at the end of 2023, representing about 0.44% of its population.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)
