(Yicai) May 10 -- Beijing and Shanghai are two of the six administrative regions in China that are holding out on house purchase restrictions, as more relax or remove them entirely to boost property sales amid a prolonged downturn in the real estate market.

Hangzhou and Xi'an yesterday joined the nation’s zero-restrictions club, while lowering down payment requirements and lengthening mortgage periods. But the four first-tier cities, which also include Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as Hainan province and the municipality of Tianjin still review homebuyers' qualifications.

Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, was the first city to completely lift qualification checks on buyers after the Politburo on April 30 called on local governments to “study policies to digest the housing stockpile.”

The moves taken by Hangzhou and Xi'an on the same day mean that the end of purchase restrictions across the country is now a general trend, according to Yan Yuejin, research director at the E-house China Research and Development Institute.

Constraints in place for many years are being taken out of the policy toolbox, Yan said, adding that almost all provincial capitals have down with them.

A full end to restrictions and other supportive policies will help stoke housing demand among new residents, people currently living in other regions, as well as locals who want to upgrade their living conditions, the China Index Academy forecast. 

Further policy loosening is expected in core cities, but it would be hard for the first-tier cities to go all the way, according to Sinolink Securities.

Still, the big cities are making selective changes. This week, Shenzhen said it will lower its social insurance and income tax requirements for buyers in non-core urban areas.

That followed announcements by Beijing on April 30 that existing homeowners would be allowed to buy another property beyond the city’s fifth ring road and by Shanghai on Jan. 30 that non-married non-permanent residents without housing registration would be permitted to buy apartments beyond its outer ring road.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Emmi Laine