In recent news from September 10, 2025, following the comprehensive lift of property purchase restrictions in Guangzhou last year, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, the three major first-tier cities in China, have successively relaxed their property purchase restrictions. Particularly in Shenzhen, the city has opened its doors to non-local property buyers. However, despite a month passing since the implementation of the new property policies in Beijing, the market has not seen a significant surge in transactions. Mainland official media pointed out that many areas in the previously considered toughest first-tier cities have seen housing prices drop back to levels seen in 2016, with a clear accelerating downward trend.
On the evening of September 5, the Shenzhen Housing and Construction Bureau and the People’s Bank of China Shenzhen Branch jointly issued the “Notice on Further Optimizing and Adjusting the City’s Real Estate Policy Measures.” Currently, only Futian District, Nanshan District, and Bao’an District’s Xin’an Street in Shenzhen still have certain property purchase restrictions, while other areas have been opened to non-locals.
The new property policies in Shenzhen this time focus on three main adjustments: relaxing purchase restrictions, loosening corporate buying regulations, and optimizing credit availability. Each of these adjustments far exceeds previous market expectations of just “fine-tuning,” surpassing the intensity of recent property policies in Beijing and Shanghai. This is due to the more significant decline in Shenzhen’s property market. For instance, in the secondary housing market, the downward trend in Shenzhen’s second-hand housing prices started in May 2021 and has continued for over four years now. Just looking at the data from July, Shenzhen’s second-hand housing prices fell by 0.9%, placing it among the top ten in terms of price declines among major cities nationwide, highlighting the adjustment pressures.
From August onwards, restrictions on real estate purchases in Beijing and Shanghai have been gradually relaxed. Beijing first announced on August 8 that eligible families outside the Fifth Ring Road could purchase properties without limits. Following this, Shanghai allowed individuals or families to buy property outside the Outer Ring Road as long as they have fully paid social security for a year.
A blogger known as “Bie Yuan” in Shenzhen mentioned on September 7 that he currently rents a house in Shenzhen. Recently, a real estate agent brought someone to view his place. The agent revealed that while people had viewed the property, no decisions had been made yet. The agent explained, “Just because people come to view the property, it doesn’t mean deals are being sealed. This issue cannot be resolved simply by lifting purchase restrictions.”
The blogger said he asked the agent about the types of people looking to buy properties, and the response was either young individuals with children needing schools or elderly individuals needing retirement homes.
The effects of Beijing’s “8·8” property policies a month on have been of interest. According to reports from Huaxia Times, the overall housing market in Fangshan received limited uplift. Data from 58 Anjuke indicated that after the new policies were introduced, the index for searching new houses in Fangshan quickly rose from 63 in July to the current 66, but the observation index for new houses has only slightly increased. Industry expert Zhang Bo stated, “Although the housing market in Fangshan has shown growth after the new policy, it is still considered a non-core area in Beijing, and buyers remain cautious. The market stimulus for Fangshan due to the new policy is relatively weak.”
Zhang noted that with the continued slow rise in activity, there is a chance for a slight increase in transaction volume in Beijing’s core areas. However, the overall market in non-core areas will still find it challenging to witness a rapid recovery, as the market remains in a phase of exploration.
Data from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development showed that in August, there were 3,135 signed contracts for new residential properties, an 8.82% increase from the previous month; and 13,331 signed contracts for second-hand residential properties, a 4.28% increase from the previous month. Statistics from Ke Group showed that in August, 2,733 units of newly built commodity housing (including regular housing and villas, excluding co-owned properties) in Beijing were sold, a 6.2% increase from the previous month.
A report from China Real Estate News noted that visits indicated a certain degree of increased market activity due to the new property policies in Beijing, with significant rises in the consultation volume, viewing volume, visitation volume, and transaction volume in some properties. However, overall, the property market in Beijing under the new policies did not experience a surge in transactions, maintaining relative stability.
Financial blogger “Dan Xiao Huang” expressed surprise at the official media reports on the matter. Typically, official media tends to emphasize the positives of government policies, such as doubling the transaction volume of a certain property – essentially using specific instances to represent the whole. However, currently, despite efforts to accentuate specific areas, positive performances are hard to come by. This indirectly reflects how lackluster the effects of Beijing’s removal of purchase restrictions are.
He also mentioned that in the past, housing markets tended to be active for about half a year after new policies were introduced. Now, after just a month following the policy changes, the impact seems ineffective. Although some data has shown growth, it’s mostly marginal, with limited overall increases.
A report from Sanlian Life Weekly on September 9 highlighted that the collective relaxation of purchase restrictions in first-tier cities was primarily due to the ongoing price declines with no sign of stabilization.
After years of continuous declines, many areas in the four major first-tier cities have seen housing prices drop back to levels seen in 2016 or even earlier, with no sign of stopping. Recent housing price data indicates the first-tier markets are even accelerating their downward trends.
In July, data showed that in year-on-year comparisons, new housing prices in first-tier cities dropped by 1.1%, while second-hand housing prices fell by 3.4%. Month on month, new housing prices and second-hand housing prices in first-tier cities dropped by 0.2% and 1.0%, respectively.
It is evident that the first-tier cities are experiencing a clear trend of accelerated price drops. Against this backdrop, maintaining purchase restrictions in these cities had become meaningless. After exhausting various market-saving measures, lifting purchase restrictions remained the only choice. However, the question arises: will lifting purchase restrictions in first-tier cities lead to a stabilization or even a significant increase in housing prices?
Looking at Guangzhou, where purchase restrictions were completely lifted in September last year, it has been exactly a year since the change. Yet, even after a year of lifting the restrictions, housing prices in Guangzhou have shown no signs of stabilization. The most recent housing price data for July indicated a 4.6% decline in new properties and a 6% decline in second-hand properties compared to the same period last year.
The relaxation of purchase restrictions in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen targets non-core areas, while maintaining certain restrictions in the most central regions. If the effects are not significant, the next step may involve relaxing restrictions in the core areas. Despite this, any impact is likely to be only short-term. Given the current real estate landscape, even in first-tier cities where demand has significantly decreased, lifting purchase restrictions might only result in limited short-term increased demand, unlikely to reverse the fundamental market trend, signaling a significant rebound in housing prices may not occur again.
For years, properties in first-tier cities were considered the most valuable assets, but why are people no longer buying them?
A report from Sanlian Life Weekly suggests that beyond the reversal of supply and demand dynamics, one important reason for the collective abandonment of properties in first-tier cities is due to a fundamental change in people’s perception of the investment value of real estate.
For many years, real estate has been the most important asset allocation for Chinese people. Over the past two decades, many individuals have gained substantial returns from property speculation. Especially in first-tier cities, property was tagged as always appreciating, seen as the most valuable and secure asset. Now, this logic has been completely overturned. With plummeting property prices in recent years, many ordinary people have finally realized the true nature of property value after facing harsh realities.
A report from UBS Securities this year shows that 47% of property buyers have experienced losses, with current prices lower than the purchase prices. Even in first-tier cities, numerous properties have dropped by over 30% from their peak values.
When the investment appeal significantly diminishes, the value of first-tier properties needs to be reevaluated, returning to their intrinsic residential purpose. Although prices have fallen by 30% from their peaks, from an absolute perspective, they remain expensive, far exceeding the affordability level of ordinary citizens. In terms of the price-to-income ratio, first-tier cities still rank high globally. Therefore, even with relaxed purchase restrictions, the resulting demand is likely to be quite limited.
For first-tier cities, completely lifting purchase restrictions is the final resort. If, after implementing this measure, property prices continue to decline or potentially create more panic, accelerating further price drops is a possibility.