Nanjing seeks to boost house demand

The Nanjing government has joined various other local governments that are fine-tuning their strict property policies as they collect less and less revenue from land transfers.

In a document released on Monday, the Nanjing government said it would try to stimulate local housing demand. First-time homebuyers who have paid into a public housing fund can now secure a loan from the fund.

First-time homebuyers can also receive subsidies, according to the document.

On an official micro blog, Nanjing officials said the new measures are not meant to loosen the limits that have been placed on housing purchases.

To bring property prices down, the central government has imposed restrictions on multiple purchases of residences. It has also made it more difficult to obtain credit and increased down payment requirements.

It is not yet known if the new policies will be halted if higher authorities deem them to be a loosening of the current property restrictions.

Since the beginning of this year, nearly 50 cities have "fine-tuned" their property policies. Some of those changes been canceled by central government after they were deemed to have gone too far.