(Yicai) Dec. 13 -- Many Chinese second-tier cities, including Wuhan in central Hebei province, have lowered their requirements for residents to obtain the local household registration, also known as hukou, in an effort to address the declining population issue.

Residents who buy a property in Wuhan from Dec. 7 can immediately apply for the household registration, as the previous restrictions targeting the purchased houses' floor area and price were canceled.

China's hukou system allows holders more rights and advantages in employment, education, social security, pension, home purchases, and other legal interests, leaving migrant workers with fewer benefits than permanent residents. Chinese cities with a permanent population under three million people lifted their restrictions on household registration, while those with a permanent population above three million are relaxing them.

Last year, China's population saw its first-ever decline in over 61 years. In this context, easing restrictions on household registration can spur consumption and the local real estate market in the short term, promoting the economic development of cities, Li Guozheng, director of the central China market research center of the China Index Academy, told Yicai.

Wuhan's house transactions have been ranking among the top three nationwide in the past decade, mainly thanks to the increase in new permanent residents and the issuance of new policies to attract fresh university graduates, Li said.

Wuhan has a permanent population of 13.8 million people, with the figure expected to reach 16.6 million people by 2035. The city is likely to further optimize its household registration policies in the future to achieve such goal, Li noted.

Zhengzhou in central Henan province and Qingdao in eastern Shandong province introduced policies in September and November, respectively, to allow residents renting apartments to obtain household registrations.

In July and August, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, two of the most developed Chinese provinces, announced the cancellation of household registration restrictions in most cities except for Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Suzhou.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione