China property policies undergoing renovation
Most Chinese cities have relaxed controls, but a new property tax looms
Mainland cities that have scrapped home-purchase restrictions are likely to have abandoned such controls once and for all, industry experts say, as top authorities speed up reforms aimed at the adoption of more market-oriented measures to curb housing speculation.
In the past four years, 46 major cities imposed restrictions to make it harder for non-local residents to buy homes or for locals to purchase multiple homes.
In 2010, the mainland's property market had shrugged off a brief downturn during the global financial crisis and home prices were soaring.
Now, about half a year into a new correction, most of them have either relaxed or lifted such measures.
While some debate when and how the remaining few, especially the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, will relax such controls, others are asking whether they will come back.
"It's almost certain that China will not resort to such government interventions again," said Li Enping, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a top government think tank in Beijing. "The alternatives should be fiscal and tax measures.
