Although housing prices have largely stayed stable in major Chinese cities, policies to restrict house purchases in some first-and second-tier cities continues to tighten. So far, eight Chinese cities have implemented a lottery system for housing sales.
China's property market, once deemed a major risk for the broader economy, cooled in 2017 amid tough curbs such as purchase restrictions and higher down payment requirements as the government sought to rein in speculation.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the prices of newly built properties in first-tier cities generally remained stable in April, while secondhand property saw a drop of 0.1 percent from March. In second-tier cities, the growth rate of new properties increased by 0.1 percent.
The eight cities that have implemented a lottery system for housing sales are: Shanghai, Nanjing, Changsha, Chengdu, Xi'an, Wuhan, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen.
