Foreigners would be barred from buying residential property that isn't for their own use and would need government approval to transfer properties, according to Dow Jones Newswires. It didn't say when the rules might take effect.

China has tightened limits on real estate development in recent months in an effort to rein in a boom in the building of luxury housing and other projects that Beijing says are unneeded and could cause problems for banks if builders default on loans.

Last month, regulators raised minimum down-payments for housing, tightened bank lending rules and barred new construction of villas and other luxury projects.

But investment from Hong Kong and other sources outside the Chinese mainland has continued to flow into real estate. Investors apparently hope to profit from rising real estate prices and an anticipated rise in the value of China's currency, the yuan, which would push up the value of mainland assets in foreign currency terms.

The latest draft rules were prepared by the Ministries of Construction and Commerce, the central bank and other agencies, Dow Jones said.

They would bar foreign-backed developers from obtaining Chinese bank financing for a project unless they can pay for at least 35 percent of it themselves, the report said.

Foreign developers that want to invest more than US$10 million (euro7.9 million) in a project are required to have registered capital in the mainland worth at least 50 percent of the investment, according to Dow Jones. Those that haven't paid up their registered capital would be barred from receiving bank loans.

It wasn't clear what the current limits are on bank financing and capital requirements.

Transfer of projects or equity in foreign-funded property firms or the acquisition of domestic property companies by foreign-funded property funds would require government approval, the report said.