Shanghai housing authorities have denied reports that they're considering new restrictions on buying homes, saying they will be sticking to the existing rules to ensure the stability of the market, according to Shanghai municiple government's official Weibo account.
The local housing construction commission was forced to make the announcement following a spate of panic buying in Shanghai over the past week.
There has been a run on new homes in Shanghai amid reports the local government was considering new steps to try to cool the market.
This led to a 90 percent increase in new home sales in the past seven days, with buyers paying an average of 6,500 U.S. dollars a square meter, which is over 5.5-percent more than they would have paid the week before.
Analysts believe it's right to respond quickly to dispel such rumours and calm the market, although it doesn't rule out the possibility that the local government would publish new policies in the future.
Earlier this year, the Shanghai authority issued a slew of policies to tame its property market, including increasing the size of down payments required for people buying second homes.
Under the rules, which came into effect On March 25, those who already own a house must put down a deposit of at least 50 percent. Previously they were required to pay 40 percent up front. For home loans, the minimum down payment rises to 70 percent if the size of the property is larger than an ordinary house.
The regulations were meant to curb surging prices in the city's property market resulting from what a director with the city's housing and urban-rural development commission, Gu Jinshan, described as "irrational emotions," speculation and illegal practices by some companies and agencies.
