Hangzhou, a city of 12.5 million which is home to tech giant Alibaba and EV maker Geely, has been relaxing restrictions in the property market since early 2022. Last October it removed curbs in most districts, and in March loosened restrictions on purchases of second homes. Now it’s going a step further.
Other big developers have since become insolvent and millions of apartments have been left unfinished. Beijing has scrambled to contain the crisis, which has become a major drag on the economy and sparked nationwide protests by homebuyers. But the stimulus measures rolled out so far, including a series of mortgage rate cuts and piecemeal measures to relax home purchase curbs, have failed to revive the sector as demand has remained weak.