Shanghai eases residency requirements for homebuyers

China's economic hub Shanghai announced a seven-item policy package, including lowering the threshold for non-local home buyers, on Wednesday, a new effort to reduce homebuying restrictions and better meet people's reasonable living demand, according to official sources.

Non-local families or single buyers?without local hukou in Shanghai are eligible to purchase residential properties within the city's Outer Ring Road as long as they have paid taxes in Shanghai for at least one year, and those who have paid taxes in Shanghai for three years can buy an additional apartment, said a notice on further optimizing the policies and measures of Shanghai's real estate market published by the municipal government on Wednesday.

Non-local families or single adults who have held Shanghai residence permits for five years or more are allowed to purchase one housing unit without any income tax payment requirements, the notice added.

Effective Feb 26, the new measures also lower the threshold for applying for housing provident fund loans to meet diverse housing needs, and establish a fix for the city's property tax exemption conditions.

The measures are designed to better meet the new and elastic demand for living, promoting the stable and healthy development of the property market, said the notification jointly issued by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Housing Management, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance, Shanghai Municipal Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration and the Shanghai housing provident fund management center.