Shanghai, China's economic hub, announced Sept 29 that it will further optimize local property policies to better meet people's living demand, including lowering the threshold for non-local buyers, reducing down payment for both first-time and second home purchases, and expanding VAT exemption during home trading, according to official sources.

Non-local families or single buyers are eligible to buy residential properties beyond the city's Outer Ring Road as long as they have paid tax in Shanghai for one year, compared with previous requirement of three years or above, said a notice on further optimizing the policies and measures of Shanghai's real estate market published by the municipal government on Sunday night.

Taking effect from Oct 1, the seven-item notice also includes allowing non-local families to enjoy home-buying treatment as local families as long as members of the families have paid tax in Shanghai for three years, cutting existing home mortgage rates, lowering down payment requirement and reducing home transaction cost.

The measures are in response to the central government's guidelines of adapting to the new supply and demand conditions in the real estate market, promoting the creation of new property development pattern, accelerating the establishment of a housing system that treats leasing and homebuying equally, so as to better meet people's diversified home living requirements and promote the stable and healthy development of the property market, said the notification issued jointly by the Shanghai Municipal Administrative Committee of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Housing Management, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance Shanghai Municipal Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration, Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China and the Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau.