All Four First-Tier Cities Ease Home-Purchase Rules as Beijing Lowers Its Threshold

With Beijing relaxing its homebuying restrictions, all four of China's first-tier cities have now eased their property policies. Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou had already made adjustments, leaving Beijing as the last first-tier city to act. This round of changes broadly focuses on lowering barriers to buying and stabilizing the housing market.

Beijing moves

Under Beijing's new policy, the period of social security or personal income tax payments required for non-Beijing residents to buy a home within the Fifth Ring Road has been cut from two years to one, while the ceiling on housing provident fund loans has been raised. Zhang Dawei of Centaline Property said Beijing's move to lower the threshold for nonlocal buyers could mark the beginning of a broader recovery.

Early effects emerge

In other first-tier cities, the effects are already showing. Shanghai rolled out a seven-point policy package in late February, and in the first seven months of 2026 the city sold about 2.83 million square meters of commercial housing. After Shenzhen adjusted its rules in late April, new home sales rose more than 40 percent year on year for three consecutive months, and existing-home sales rose more than 10 percent for two consecutive months.

Nationwide, more than 680 property-related policy measures have been introduced across the country since the start of the year, covering everything from lower down-payment ratios to reduced mortgage rates.

A divided market

Even so, property markets across the country remain clearly divided. Ding Zuyu of the Shanghai-based E-House China R&D Institute said China's property markets are showing divergent trends, which suggests movement toward structural improvement. In other words, whether the easing translates into a sustained recovery still depends on the supply, demand and expectations in each city.

For buyers, lower thresholds mean more choices. For the industry as a whole, how to stabilize the market while avoiding sharp swings remains a question still to be answered.