New housing restrictions announced

Eight local governments follow Beijing's example to cool the overheated market

In the past four days, local governments in nine cities have announced new restrictions on property purchases, designed to dampen speculative buying and curb soaring prices.

At the weekend, Tianjin, Suzhou, Zhengzhou, Chengdu, Jinan, Wuxi, Hefei and Wuhan followed an announcement made in Beijing late Friday night. They introduced measures to cool the residential property market, such as raising down payment requirements for second homes or banning the purchase of second and third homes.