Move aims to promote sound market development
The central government has relaxed rules for foreign property buyers in a bid to promote the sound and stable development of the real estate market, according to an official document released Thursday.
Foreign nationals who work or study in China can buy commercial residential properties for their own use. But in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, which have their own purchase restrictions, foreign buyers still need to follow local rules, according to the document jointly issued by six government bodies including the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Commerce.
The authorities will also simplify the administrative procedures for foreign investment in the real estate sector, the document said.
Under the previous regulation, which was adopted in 2006, only foreign nationals who stay in China for more than one year are qualified to buy houses.
"The previous curb on foreign property buyers was mainly aimed at preventing surging home prices in many Chinese cities," Yan Yuejin, research director of Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute, told the Global Times Thursday.
The average home price in 70 medium-sized and large cities rose 7.6 percent in 2005 from a year earlier, and the rate slowed slightly to 5.5 percent in 2006, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
China tightened rules on foreign buyers in July 2006, with the aim of preventing overseas "hot money" from flowing into the property market in some areas of the country.
For instance, foreign funds flowing into Shanghai's property market totaled $1.58 billion in 2005, helping push up housing prices in the municipality sharply, the official Xinhua News Agency reported in April 2006.
But China's once-overheated real estate market has cooled considerably since 2014 amid the overall economic slowdown, and authorities have rolled out a batch of measures to boost the property sector, including relaxing mortgage rules for buyers of second homes and cutting interest rates.
"The new policy targeting foreign investors will further help boost economic growth and prevent capital outflows," Yan said.
As many top-tier cities still have purchase limits, Yan said the latest move would boost sales of high-end properties in second-tier cities such as Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province and Dalian, Northeast China's Liao-ning Province.
