Chinese major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing announced detailed regulations to cool down the housing market over the weekend, following the central government's call to curb property prices in early March. But some industry insiders remain skeptical of the effectiveness of the new rules.

The detailed rules, called "the strictest" by some experts, came just one day ahead of the State Council's deadline for local governments to spell out their own rules.

The Beijing municipal government Saturday announced that single individuals with permanent residence registration in Beijing will not be allowed to buy a second home, in a bid to curb speculation and investment purchases.

Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing all stipulated that commercial banks will not be allowed to offer loans to local residents who are buying a third apartment or more, and the down payment for the purchase of a second apartment will also be raised.

Of all the cities that have announced detailed policies, Beijing is the only one that said it would try to bring down the prices of apartments that the purchasers plan to live in.

Shanghai said that it aims to stabilize housing prices in the next few years, while the governments in Chongqing, Nanjing and Shenzhen said the growth in local housing prices should not exceed the growth in local people's income.

Experts noted that the new measures have demonstrated the government's determination to tame China's rising housing prices, but it is still too early to say whether the new measures will definitely bring them down.

Gu Yunchang, vice president at the China Real Estate and Housing Research Association, said the new rule could hold up property investment demand and also dampen speculation.

The central government announced on March 1 a series of tightening measures on the real estate sector, including a capital-gains tax of 20 percent on second home transactions.

Both Shanghai and Beijing vowed to strictly implement the 20-percent tax on capital gains. But Beijing said that it would exempt the 20 percent tax for property owners who are selling properties they have owned for five years or more.

The tax has triggered widespread panic among the public. Transactions of second-hand properties have surged in the past month, as potential home buyers try to avert the imminent capital gains tax.

Data from Centaline China Real Estate showed that second-hand apartment transactions in Beijing topped 37,000 in March — the highest monthly number over the past three years.

Han Tao, a 28-year-old Beijing resident, just bought an 80-square-meter apartment last month, before the 20 percent tax was finalized.

"Though the capital-gains tax is supposed to tax the sellers, in fact, the tax is always paid by the buyers, otherwise sellers would raise prices," said Han, who also expressed his concern that the coming 20 percent tax may further increase overall housing prices.

The new measures are having side effects. Media reported that divorce rate in some cities surged after the tax on capital gains was announced, as some couples may fake divorces in order to buy more homes before the tax is finalized.

Previous tightening measures in some cities dictated that a family that owns more than two homes would not be allowed to buy more.

Experts said that the new measure in Beijing may even trigger a wave of fake marriages in the city, as the municipal government's new measures stipulates that single individuals are not allowed to own more than one home.

Hui Jianqiang, a senior researcher with the E-House China R&D Institute, expressed doubts over the effectiveness of the new measures.

"The detailed rules in most cities are not much more than a repetition of the central government's measures … Housing prices in major cities may even show a moderate increase this year," said Hui.

"People who cannot afford or are not eligible to buy homes will turn to the rental market, which may further push up rents in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai," said Yang Shaofeng, general manager of Beijing Lianda Sifang Real Estate Consultancy.

Chen Yinquan, a senior manager at the Beijing Syswin Real Estate Brokerage, believes that the new measure's cooling effect in the second-hand housing market will be no more than half a year, as "rigid demand in first-tier cities is still increasing."

Gu Yunchang noted that the use of administrative measures to cool the real estate sector only serves as a stopgap measure and eventually the government needs to shift to market-oriented measures, such as increasing the housing supply.