Beijing municipality eases home purchase curbs to shore up sluggish market

The Beijing municipal government has further relaxed home buying curbs by lowering the threshold for individual income tax payments and by allowing multi-child families to purchase extra properties.\nThe move was seen as a precursor to more national supportive policies expected in 2026 aimed at shoring up the sluggish property market, an industry expert said.\nChina aims to stabilise the nation’s property market as part of its 15th Five-Year Plan, which kicks off in 2026, according to a national conference held in Beijing earlier this week.\nThe policies rolled out in the national capital of Beijing were also seen as a benchmark for the rest of the country, said Liu Jing, a professor of accounting and finance, specialising in real estate, at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing.\nNon-Beijing hukou residents, or those without official residency, are now eligible to buy homes within the Fifth Ring Road, a major expressway around the city, after completing at least two consecutive years of local income tax or social security payments, down from a three-year requirement previously.\nThe eligibility threshold for homes purchased outside the Fifth Ring Road has been lowered to one year of tax payments, down from two, according to guidelines issued on Wednesday by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other authorities.\n\n“This supportive policy will deliver positive effects, yet its direct impact remains limited,” Liu said. “At its core, the property market hinges on the dynamics of supply and demand. Stabilising the property market is a crucial measure to anchor economic fundamentals, and I expect more robust measures will be rolled out.”\nLiu added that policies such as cutting interest rates could have a tangible impact on the property market, but such policies required trillions of yuan in financial support.\nChina’s property sector, once a pillar of economic growth, has been on a downward trajectory since the second half of 2021. Sluggish home sales and declining prices have dented consumer confidence and taken a toll on homeowners.\nThe new policy also allows families with two children or more to purchase an extra home in downtown Beijing. Specifically, Beijing-hukou households can own up to three properties within the Fifth Ring Road, while non-Beijing-hukou families with at least two consecutive years of local tax payments can buy two homes in the area.\nIn Beijing, transaction volumes of pre-owned units larger than 140 square metres (1,507 sq feet) have maintained their growth. Four-bedroom second-hand properties outside the North Fifth Ring Road have seen a growing share of transactions, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing.\n\nData from Centaline Property’s research institute shows that about 80 per cent of Beijing’s new residential property transactions are concentrated in areas outside the Fifth Ring Road, which are also core districts for second-hand home deals.\n“As the policy takes effect, rigid demand for new homes outside the Fifth Ring Road is expected to drive the initial pickup in visitor footfall and transaction volumes,” said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst of Centaline Properties in Beijing.\n“The new policy is expected to reinforce this trend and accelerate destocking of improvement-oriented residential properties within the Fifth Ring Road,” Zhang said.\nIn addition, second-hand homebuyers using loans from China’s housing provident fund will only have to make a minimum down payment of 25 per cent, down from 30 per cent.\nIn the first three quarters of 2025, Beijing’s new residential property sales volume totalled 4.92 million square metres, down 8.2 per cent year on year, while pure commercial residential unit sales reached 3.47 million square metres, up 20.1 per cent on a yearly basis, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics.\nSince Beijing’s new policy was rolled out, there has been little change in the volume of inquiries, according to a representative at a real estate agency in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, who requested anonymity.\nThe agent added that a wait-and-see sentiment typically sets in after a new policy launch, and that the downward trend in the market was unlikely to be easily reversed by policy measures. While real demand would still translate into home purchases, the policies would do little to draw investors into the market.\nAnother property agent in Beijing’s Xicheng district said some potential buyers have viewed properties since the new policy was introduced, but they are also taking a wait-and-see approach.\n“Homebuyers are no longer making panic purchases. Instead, they are approaching the market with greater rationality,” the agent said.\n