Exclusive-Shanghai, Shenzhen to lift key home purchase curbs to boost market, sources say

(Reuters) -Top Chinese cities Shanghai and Shenzhen are planning to lift key remaining restrictions on home purchases to attract potential buyers and shore up their flagging real estate markets, four sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The changes will allow people from other places in China to buy homes in the popular cities, which had been previously tightly controlled due to worries about excess speculation.

Shanghai, China’s commercial and financial hub, and Shenzhen, the country’s answer to Silicon Valley, also seek to scrap limits on the number of homes that Chinese can buy, said three of the sources.

Both cities are expected to announce the changes in the coming weeks, joining a growing list of Chinese cities that have completely abolished purchase restrictions, they added.

All the sources requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

China’s State Council Information Office, which handles media queries on behalf of the government, and the Ministry of Housing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The governments of Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing did not respond to Reuters’ queries.

Shanghai and Shenzhen started to impose limits on people buying homes in 2011 and 2010 respectively, in an effort to cool soaring prices.

The capital Beijing is also considering lifting similar restrictions across most areas of the city in phases over the longer-term, with the exception of key districts such as Xicheng and Dongcheng, which host China’s top leadership compound Zhongnanhai and various government office buildings, according to two of the sources.

The planned easing comes after Chinese leaders pledged on Thursday at a Politburo meeting to strive to achieve the 2024 economic growth target of roughly 5% and halt declines in the housing market, state media reported.

The move would mark the latest effort by Chinese policymakers to arrest the prolonged downturn in the struggling real estate sector.

It follows broader-than-expected monetary stimulus and property market support measures announced by the central bank on Tuesday, which include liquidity injections and interest rate cuts, aimed at restoring confidence in the economy.