Chinese cities ease home purchase limits

Two Chinese major cities Suzhou and Shanghai eased home purchase limits to boost sales, in an attempt to enhance the nation’s troubled property market, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Shanghai now allows single non-Shanghai householders to buy homes in some areas. They were previously banned from buying property in the megacity, the nation’s financial hub.

Suzhou, Shanghai and Guangzhou are the latest cities to ease home-buying restrictions, joining more than 30 municipal governments across China to stimulate demand and prop up the market.

Currently, only eight cities like Beijing and Hangzhou, and Hainan province are still maintaining purchase restrictions in some areas, according to China Index Academy, a major real estate research firm.