Beijing cuts home-buying bar for nonlocals, lifts loan caps
Why it matters: The move widens access across the capital as China tries to arrest a fifth year of housing weakness and weak consumer demand.
Beijing eased property curbs again, lowering the threshold for nonlocal families to buy homes in the Chinese capital and raising mortgage support through the housing provident fund. Starting Aug. 8, households without a Beijing hukou can buy homes anywhere in the city if they have paid income tax or social insurance there for one straight year, down from two years before. The latest step extends easing to areas inside the Fifth Ring Road that had been left out of earlier loosening. Beijing also raised the maximum provident fund loan to 1.2 million yuan for a first-home buyer and 2.4 million yuan for dual-income households, with extra top-ups for outer-district purchases, green-certified homes and families with two or more children.