Beijing and other big cities set tone for housing recovery

Cuts to down payment ratios and mortgage rates in Beijing, along with the policy optimizations in some of China's largest cities, will create a better environment for homebuying sentiment in the second half of the year, help boost market confidence and stabilize the entire property market, said realty experts on Thursday.

After Beijing eased homebuying requirements on Wednesday, Shanghai and Guangdong province's Shenzhen and Guangzhou announced their own comparable policies on Thursday.

The measures will likely drive market demand in accordance with the unparalleled supportive gesture from Chinese authorities on May 17, said Yan Yuejin, director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institution.