Beijing Housing Prices

On September 30, 2016, the Beijing government announced that the minimum down payment for first-time home buyers was now 35 percent of the sale price, five percentage points higher than the previous requirement. Within 10 days, nine major cities unveiled new restrictions on property purchases in a bid to cool down the real estate market. Experts warned that the new policies may restrain overheating property prices in Beijing in the short term, but prices are not likely to see substantial drops in the long run because of the shrinking property inventory and land supply as well as the city’s huge population. Beijing housing prices have become a weather vane of the real estate market nationwide and the steady growth of prices is in the interests of all parties involved.