After rebel Chinese city’s property-easing curbs comes its generous offer of subsidies as Beijing hints at policy change

Heze, the first Chinese city to ease property curbs last December, is at it again. This time it is handing out subsidies to villagers willing to move out of rural areas and buy flats in the city.

According to a document released on Wednesday, Chengwu, one of eight counties under Heze’s administration, guaranteed rural residents a subsidy of 300 yuan (US$45) per square metre if they buy flats in urban areas. Villagers will also be able to enrol their children in county schools, and the government will offer at least 3,000 jobs to those willing to relocate.

“More publicity work should be done to inform villagers of the benefits of moving into towns. They should be encouraged to buy homes in towns, improve their living conditions and increase their incomes,” the document said, adding that the subsidy will be in place until the end of 2020.

Chengwu county has a population of 640,000. Yuncheng, another county in Heze, is the hometown of China’s first lady Peng Liyuan.

The fourth tier city of 8.3 million people in eastern Shandong province made headlines in December when it cancelled a three-year reselling ban imposed in 2017 without infuriating authorities in Beijing. This was seen as a sign that Beijing was beginning to take a less hawkish stance on property controls that led to a marked cooling down in the residential market and threatened to weigh on an already slowing economy.

Following Heze’s move, more than 10 Chinese cities loosened property curbs marginally through various means, such as revising down mortgage rates and lowering the threshold for obtaining residency permits – a prerequisite for buying homes.