Beijing eases home purchase rules further to boost property market

BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Beijing on Friday announced the removal of its limits on the number of home purchases outside the city's fifth ring road, marking the latest move to boost the local property market.

From Saturday, there will be no restriction on the number of homes purchased outside the city's fifth ring road by families with local household registration, and families without local household registration but with at least two years of social insurance or individual income tax payment records in Beijing, according to a circular issued on Friday.

Adult single individuals purchasing commercial residential homes in Beijing shall be subject to the same home purchase restrictions as resident families, said the circular, which was issued by the Beijing Housing Fund Management Center and the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

According to the circular, homebuyers will receive strengthened housing provident fund support.

Loan applicants with no property in Beijing but possessing one settled provident fund loan record in the country shall now be classified as first-home buyers -- adjusted from the previous second-home classification.

Additionally, the limit for housing-provident-fund loans for second homes will be raised from 600,000 yuan (about 84,055 U.S. dollars) to 1 million yuan. The minimum down payment ratio for such loans will be reduced to 30 percent for second-home purchases both inside and outside the fifth ring road.