Policy change will have limited impact but could help stabilise Beijing home prices, Morningstar and Fitch analysts say.
Beijing’s surprise move to lift home-purchase restrictions in outlying areas will help stabilise housing prices in the capital by next year, according to analysts, who added that other major cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen could follow suit.
The municipal government said on Friday that families with Beijing residency, as well as those who paid social insurance and individual income tax in the city for a set period, would be allowed to buy new and second-hand homes outside the Fifth Ring Road, a major highway encircling the suburbs.
The policy change also modified the rules around the housing provident fund – a government-backed savings scheme that subsidises home purchases and rentals.
