AN eastern China city is moving to make it easier for families with more children to own multiple properties, in a bid to revive the housing market and boost birth rates.

Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, yesterday said that households with three children are now allowed to buy one more residence. The third child has to be born after May 31 last year. Such families can also enjoy precedence over other prospective buyers when purchasing new homes.

The move makes Hangzhou the first major residential market to bundle property easing with birth rates, after at least seven smaller cities rolled out similar policy tweaks since April.

“Such a policy can spur home buying and encourage having more children at the same time,” said Gao Yuansheng, an analyst at China Index Holdings. “It again shows that China supports real housing demand for multi-children families.”

The emerging policy trend is in line with the government’s years-long principle that “houses are for living in, not for speculation,” a stance it maintained after vowing last month to rekindle demand for homes.

COVID outbreaks in parts of China have exacerbated a housing slowdown that began last year during a regulatory move on excessive leverage in the industry.

Banks in many cities cut mortgage rates in the first quarter following calls from authorities to support buyer sentiment in the housing market. Authorities stepped up efforts to revive sluggish property demand by further cutting mortgage loan interest rates for first-time home buyers Sunday.

Hangzhou also made purchasing existing homes in central areas easier, after its secondary property market weakened in the first quarter, Gao said. The city’s new-home values still rose in April. (SD-Agencies)