After the implementation of the "Seven Measures in Shanghai", Shanghai may become the first first-tier city to stabilize.
Right after the Spring Festival holiday, the Shanghai real estate market has received significant favorable news.
On February 25, five departments including the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban - Rural Development jointly issued the "Notice on Further Optimizing and Adjusting the Real Estate Policies of this City" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). The real estate policies have been relaxed in three aspects: reducing purchase restrictions, optimizing provident fund loans, and adjusting property tax.
Reducing the purchase restrictions for non - Shanghai residents is a key part of this new round of policies. According to the requirements of the "Notice", the social security or individual income tax payment period for non - Shanghai residents to buy a house has been shortened from the original 3 years to 1 year. At the same time, relevant adjustments have also been made to the number of houses that can be purchased. Another focus lies in the optimization of the provident fund loan policy. Not only has the loan limit for residents' first - home purchases been increased to 2.4 million yuan, but also the recognition of the number of loan - eligible houses has been optimized. The scope of support for provident fund purchases by multi - child families has been extended from the first - home to the second - home.
Specifically, the social security or individual income tax payment period for non - Shanghai residents to buy a house has been shortened. For non - local household registration resident families or adult single individuals purchasing housing within the outer ring road, the period of social security or individual income tax payment required for house purchase has been adjusted to be continuously paid for at least 1 year before the date of purchase.
Second, eligible non - Shanghai residents can purchase an additional house within the outer ring road. For non - local household registration resident families or adult single individuals who have paid social security or individual income tax in this city for 3 years or more, on the basis of implementing the existing housing purchase restriction policy, they can purchase an additional house within the outer ring road.
Third, eligible groups holding the "Shanghai Residence Permit" can purchase housing in this city. For non - Shanghai resident families or adult single individuals who have held the "Shanghai Residence Permit" for 5 years or more, they are restricted to purchasing 1 house in this city without providing proof of social security or individual income tax payment.
Put more simply, for non - Shanghai resident families or adult single individuals, if they have paid social security or individual income tax for 1 year, there is no limit on the number of houses they can purchase outside the outer ring road in Shanghai, while they are restricted to purchasing 1 house within the outer ring road; if they have paid social security or individual income tax for 3 years, they can buy 2 houses within the outer ring road; if they have held the "Shanghai Residence Permit" for 5 years, they are restricted to purchasing 1 house throughout the city without the need for social security or individual income tax proof.
In response, Zhang Bo, the dean of the 58 Anjuke Research Institute, said that according to the data from the 58 Anjuke platform, in 2025, the overlap rate of the first - hand and second - hand housing customer groups in Shanghai was only 8.7%, the lowest in the country. The differentiated pattern of "new - house improvement and second - hand housing for rigid demand" is stable. Shortening the social security/individual income tax payment period for non - Shanghai residents to buy houses within the outer ring road to 1 year precisely meets the customer group structure and housing needs in Shanghai, effectively meeting the market's rigid demand and improvement demand increments.
The China Index Academy believes that this policy directly expands the scale of the housing demand group within the outer ring road, and its driving effect on the market within the outer ring road may be more obvious. In terms of the real estate market, in 2025, a total of 44,000 new houses were sold in Shanghai, of which 17,000 were within the outer ring road, accounting for 38.6%, an increase of 7.1 percentage points compared with 2024; a total of 218,000 second - hand houses were sold, and 105,000 were sold within the outer ring road, accounting for 48.4%, an increase of 1.1 percentage points compared with 2024. The second - hand housing market within the outer ring road has a larger share, and this policy will have a more positive impact on stabilizing the price expectation of second - hand houses.
In terms of the provident fund optimization policy, first, the maximum provident fund loan limit for housing has been increased. The maximum provident fund loan limit for depositor families to purchase their first - home has been increased from 1.6 million yuan to 2.4 million yuan. With the policy of floating the loan limit for multi - child families and other factors, the maximum provident fund loan limit for purchasing families can reach 3.24 million yuan. The maximum loan limit for purchasing the second - home has also been increased accordingly.
Second, the recognition of the number of loan - eligible houses has been optimized. For local depositor families that have used provident fund loans before, if they have no housing or only one house in this city and have settled their provident fund housing loans, they can apply for a provident fund loan when purchasing a house again in this city.
Third, the scope of support for multi - child families to purchase houses has been expanded. The scope of application of the provident fund loan support policy has been extended from the purchase of the first - home to the purchase of the second - home. That is, for multi - child families purchasing a second - home, the maximum loan limit will be increased by 20% on the basis of the city's maximum loan limit.
In addition, Shanghai will also improve the personal housing property tax policy. The "Notice" shows that since January 1 this year, for children of local household registration resident families in Shanghai who purchase a house that is the only house of the adult child's family after reaching adulthood, the personal housing property tax will be temporarily exempted.
"The optimization of the provident fund loan policy effectively reduces the down - payment and monthly mortgage pressure of families with rigid demand and improvement needs, enhances their housing purchase ability, promotes the circulation of second - hand houses in Shanghai, and then drives the release of improvement demand in the new - house market. The improvement of the personal housing property tax policy is a substantial relaxation of the improvement and replacement needs of Shanghai - registered families, precisely alleviating concerns about housing purchase taxes and fees, which echoes the current characteristic of insufficient circulation of second - hand houses."
Zhang Bo, the dean of the 58 Anjuke Research Institute, also believes that the "Seven Shanghai Policies" introduced this time in Shanghai are a set of precisely - tailored policy combinations launched against the background of the critical stage of the bottom - building and restoration of the national real estate market. It exerts joint efforts from three dimensions: purchase restrictions, provident funds, and property tax, aiming at stabilizing the market, optimizing supply, and improving circulation, helping to activate reasonable housing demand, unblock the replacement chain, relieve the pressure on the circulation of existing housing, and drive the incremental market.
On a national scale, Shanghai is one of the few cities where the real estate market is showing signs of "warming up". Taking the second - hand housing market as an example, according to data from Shanghai Centaline Property, in November last year, 20,500 second - hand residential properties were sold in Shanghai, a month - on - month increase of 22.45%; in December, although the sales volume of second - hand residential properties decreased slightly by 0.65%, it still exceeded 20,000 units. In January this year, this figure reached 20,300 units at a year - on - year growth rate of 26.69%. So far, the second - hand housing market in Shanghai has maintained a monthly sales volume of over 20,000 units for three consecutive months.
Before this new round of policies, Shanghai, where the real estate market is gradually warming up, actually also tried some measures to stabilize the market. For example, in early February, Shanghai piloted the purchase of second - hand houses in Jing'an District, Pudong New Area, and Xuhui District for affordable rental housing. As the market returns to normal after the Spring Festival and the effects of this new policy are gradually released, Zhang Bo believes that the Shanghai real estate market is expected to become a benchmark for stabilization and recovery among first - tier cities, driving the core cities in the Yangtze River Delta to form a coordinated recovery trend.
The China Index Academy also said that under the stable situation, combined with the favorable policies this time, the Shanghai real estate market is expected to welcome a relatively warm "spring market". In the future, as more policies are implemented and take effect, the Shanghai real estate market is expected to stop falling and stabilize first, thus playing the leading role of big cities and promoting the improvement of the overall market expectation. The policies in Beijing and Shanghai have been implemented, and it is expected that Shenzhen will also optimize and adjust its real estate policies to further boost market confidence.