Tianjin becomes latest Chinese city to ease housing policies

TIANJIN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- North China's Tianjin Municipality has become the latest Chinese city to loosen housing policies in a bid to boost the property sector.

According to a circular issued by local authorities on Wednesday, the minimum down-payment ratio for individual commercial housing mortgages has been lowered to 15 percent for first-home purchases and 25 percent for second-home purchases.

Tianjin also removed the lower limits for individual commercial housing mortgage rates for first-time and second-time home purchases.

This allows banks to reasonably set lending rates for each mortgage based on factors such as the banks' operating situations and customer risks.

The new policies came into effect on Wednesday.

Tianjin followed suit after a number of other Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen recently adjusted real estate policies, with measures such as eased purchase restrictions, lower down-payment and mortgage rates, and trade-ins of commercial housing.

In a notice issued on Tuesday, the municipal government of Guangzhou said home buyers in the city will enjoy reduced down-payment ratios.

Non-Guangzhou residents will also be allowed to purchase two homes, the same as local residents, in six districts of Guangzhou, if they have a record of paying social insurance or income tax in the city for at least six months -- down from two years as was previously required.

On May 17, China announced a raft of measures to boost the property market, cutting minimum down-payment ratios, setting up a re-lending facility for affordable housing and pledging to deliver unfinished homes.

These national and local measures echoed a Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau meeting held on April 30, which demanded research on policies to reduce housing inventory and improve the quality of newly added housing. ■