Staff reporter and agencies

Homebuyers in China took a wait-and-see attitude after the four first-tier cities Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou eased purchase curbs ahead of China's National Day holiday.

On Sunday, Guangzhou became the first tier-one city to remove all housing restrictions, saying it would stop reviewing buyers' eligibility and no longer limit the number of homes owned. Shanghai, China's financial hub, and Shenzhen, the southern city known for its tech industry, said they will let more people purchase residences in suburban areas, and allow some others to buy more homes.

This was followed by Beijing's announcement yesterday, that it would ease rules to allow non-residents to purchase homes in core residential areas within the fifth ring road when they have paid a minimum of three years of social insurance or personal income tax, instead of the current threshold of five years. Beijing is also cutting minimum down payment ratios for first homes to 15 percent, and to 20 percent for second homes.

However, potential buyers have been taking a cautious approach so far as a report showed that a number of real estate agencies in Shanghai did not reveal a significant rebound in foot traffic yesterday.

Meanwhile, some developers in Shenzhen have been withdrawing discounts or raising the prices for new projects after the easing measures, with phase two of The Town in Longgang District reportedly seeing a hike of 50,000 yuan (HK$55,379) per unit. Moreover, some developers in Henan and Sichuan provinces announced that they would raise prices of flats on sale by 2 percent recently.

But whether Golden September and Silver October - which refers to upbeat sales in the property sector - can be seen this year remains uncertain amid mixed performances so far.

The average price of second-hand flats in 100 major cities fell by 0.7 percent in September from the previous month, down 29 months in a row and 7.1 percent from a year ago, according to the China Index Academy.

In other news, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange announced that it would not accept bond issuance applications from Hengda Real Estate, China Evergrande's (3333) onshore unit, in three years.

Four major cities including Shanghai eased curbs. Reuters

China homebuyers cautious as curbs eased