This file photo shows a real estate project in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Sentiment in the residential property markets of China's four first-tier cities has brightened as local governments have announced policy changes to boost demand, real estate industry analysts said on Tuesday.

They said they now expect these measures will help stabilize China's property market.

Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province have eased credit rules for homebuyers, identifying people with no local ownership of residential properties at the moment as first-time homebuyers eligible for favorable mortgage conditions during their loan application process.

"Since last Friday, daily inquiries for both buying and selling homes have surged more than three fold, showing that pent-up demand is rising and nearing a release," said Huang Lei, a store manager with Sinyi Realty in Shanghai.

Huang further said the firm's pre-owned home transactions started to pick up in the second half of August, and the new local definition of first-time homebuyers further fueled buying sentiment.

As of Monday, 15 Chinese cities, including the four top-tier cities, have announced their versions of policy adjustments for defining first-time homebuyers, according to the Zhuge Real Estate Data Research Center.

The cities decided that regardless of their previous home mortgage history, as long as members of families (including borrowers, spouses and minor children) applying for housing loans do not own any apartment or home in the city, they should be treated as first-time homebuyers during their home loan application process.

It is believed that these policy adjustments can enhance consumer expectations and boost home sales, which will help stabilize the overall market, said Guan Rongxue, a senior analyst with the research center.

Saturday and Sunday kept Xu Pengfei, head of Centaline Shanghai's division for Jiading district, and his colleagues extremely busy as prospective homebuyers' visits to new residential properties increased nearly three times compared to the previous week. This necessitated extension of business hours till well past midnight. "Visits to pre-owned flats also surged last weekend," Xu said.

Agreed Liu Jiajun, manager of a branch of real estate agency Homelink in Shanghai's Huangpu district. "On the night when the new policy was announced, consultations with clients continued past midnight as inquiries surged."

Liu and his colleagues, too, had to deal with a surge in potential client visits to various properties.

The scene in Beijing was no different as families, especially those with schoolgoing children, were keen to visit properties on sale, said Wu Lei, a salesperson with real estate agency 5i5j.

Yan Yuejin, director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institution, said the top-tier cities have seen heightened activity in both downtown and suburban areas as pre-owned homes for sale increased.

Some 155,016 housing units are up for sale in Beijing now, up by 4,000 since the new policy announcement, an agent with Homelink was quoted as saying by China Securities Journal on Tuesday.

"Many of the sellers are trying to regain the identity of a first-time homebuyer, which is quite different from previous rounds of sales. As pre-owned properties up for sale have increased, this bodes well for market stability and prices," said Yan.

Agreed other industry experts, saying the new policies would not skew the supply-demand equation.

Li Yujia, chief researcher at the Guangdong Planning Institute's residential policy research center, said the policy adjustments are aimed at controlling risks and retaining stability.

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