On February 25th, Shanghai authorities have once again rolled out new policies to help the real estate market. The adjustments cover three major aspects: home purchase restrictions, provident fund loans, and property taxes. Referred to as the “Seven Measures of Shanghai,” these policies have sparked discussions among the public and quickly trended on social media platforms. Experts in the industry have analyzed that the new policies in the Shanghai real estate market continue the trend of relaxation seen before but with limitations, and are not revolutionary changes. Furthermore, the impact of these policies is limited to the local Shanghai market and is unlikely to alter the overall downward trend of the national real estate market.
The joint notice titled “Notice on Further Optimization and Adjustment of Real Estate Policies in Shanghai” was issued on February 25th by five city departments including the Shanghai Housing and Urban-Rural Development Management Commission, the Shanghai Housing Management Bureau, the Shanghai Finance Bureau, the Shanghai Taxation Bureau, and the Shanghai Provident Fund Management Center. The notice is set to be implemented starting from February 26, 2026.
The notice first specifies the further reduction of housing purchase restrictions. It includes shortening the required years of social security or personal income tax payments for non-Shanghai residents purchasing homes within the outer ring road. It also allows eligible non-Shanghai residents to purchase an additional home within the outer ring road and residents with a valid “Shanghai Residence Permit” to buy homes in the city.
Under the new regulations, non-Shanghai resident families or single adults who have paid social insurance or personal income tax continuously for at least one year in Shanghai before purchasing a home can buy an unlimited number of homes outside the outer ring road, with a restriction of one home within the outer ring road. Those who have paid social insurance or personal income tax continuously for three years or more are limited to two homes within the outer ring road. Those holding a “Shanghai Residence Permit” for five years or more are restricted to purchasing one home within the entire city.
Additionally, the notice introduces the optimization of the housing provident fund policy. It raises the maximum loan amount available through the provident fund and expands the support range for families with multiple children purchasing homes.
The scope of housing provident fund loan support has been expanded from buying the first home to purchasing the second home. For families with multiple children buying a second home, the maximum loan amount is increased by 20% based on the city’s maximum loan amount.
Effective from January 1, 2026, the notice states that adult children in Shanghai household registration families who purchase a home that serves as the only residence for the adult child will be temporarily exempt from individual residential property taxes.
In cases where there are changes in the housing situation of the purchasing family that meet the aforementioned conditions, they can apply to the tax authority where the taxable residence is located to re-establish personal residential property tax filing information and assessment. Starting the following month after the reassessment by the tax authority, adjustments will be made to tax payments, and any excess payments made after January 1, 2026, will be refunded.
The introduction of the new policies by Shanghai officials has triggered a new round of discussions.
A post by the finance commentator “靜觀Finance” indicated that the adjustments under Shanghai’s new policies continue the trend of “partitioned areas and segmented populations,” representing a non-revolutionary adjustment within existing frameworks with limited relaxation. From a national real estate perspective, the impact of the Shanghai policies is primarily local and may not significantly influence the overall market trend nationwide.
One reason is that the new policies were tailored to Shanghai’s unique market characteristics and are not part of a national relaxation of policies.
Furthermore, the policy adjustments did not involve comprehensive loosening of home purchase restrictions or significant reductions in credit thresholds, indicating a lack of stimulus to investment demand and limited potential for policy effects to spread to other cities.
The core contradiction in the national real estate market lies in regional differentiation and weak demand, a problem that cannot be solved through policy optimization in individual first-tier cities. Among the 70 major cities in China, many second and third-tier cities still face issues such as population outflow, insufficient industrial support, and excess housing inventory.
China’s real estate market has been in a sustained downturn for several years. Data from 2025 shows that real estate sales have declined by over 50% since the peak in 2021, with no signs of improvement this year. According to official statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in January of this year, housing prices in 70 major Chinese cities decreased by 3.3% compared to the previous year, indicating a more severe decline than at the end of last year. Concurrently, sales of the top 100 real estate companies in the country also contracted by 18.9%, indicating a complete collapse in buyer confidence. Despite multiple attempts by various levels of the Chinese government to introduce measures to boost the market, none have proven effective.
Some netizens expressed that the official real estate policies indirectly reflect the stagnant state of the property market.
“搗蛋瞄”: Who will buy houses outside the ring road in Shanghai? Waiting for the inner ring to open up.
“sunshinea1”: I’m waiting to buy a house to get a Shanghai residency.
“神祕投資者”: The prices are still too high.
“大大的姚老闆”: What I’m lacking is money, not a “Notice.”
“生態環境檢測cma”: Didn’t they claim housing prices were rising? Do we still need official “boosts”?
In recent years, the Chinese real estate market has been consistently declining, with reports of plummeting housing prices in various regions. As a leading economic hub, Shanghai has not been immune to the challenges in the real estate market. Since 2023, Shanghai has introduced multiple measures to boost the market, focusing on relaxing home purchase restrictions, reducing down payment ratios, eliminating standard requirements for ordinary housing, lowering taxes, and increasing housing provident fund loan amounts.
Facing immense pressure to reduce inventory, in October of last year, Shanghai introduced the “house tickets” settlement policy in the premium area of the city center, indicating a struggling real estate market in Shanghai according to industry experts.