Residents select houses at a sales center of a real estate company in Huaian, East China's Jiangsu Province. As China's domestic coronavirus control has made progress, local real estate companies have opened while observing strict measures against the virus. Photo: cnsphotos

Chinese local govts are cautious about introducing property stimulus policies due to fear of speculation, experts said on Thursday, after Jingzhou, a city in Central China's Hubei Province, withdrew its new stimulus policies after introducing them just two days ago.

The new policies released by the Jingzhou local government did not coincide with the Hubei provincial government's current policies, read a notice posted on the local government's website on Wednesday evening. The stimulus measures include raising the amount of individual housing provident fund loans from 450,000 yuan ($63,564) to 500,000 yuan. 

Jingzhou's move doesn't mean the local governments will not introduce stimulus policies in the future as the housing industry has been hit hard due to the impact brought by the coronavirus, Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute told the Global Times on Thursday, adding that over-relaxed polices on home-buying might bring investment speculation.

Jingzhou became the seventh city, following Qingdao, Haining, Guangzhou, Ji'nan, Baoji and Zhumadian, around the nation to introduce new property stimulus policies and then quickly remove them, according to media reports. 

On March 24, Haining in East China's Zhejiang Province introduced policies to ease restrictions on home-buying, saying that residents without a Haining hukou (household registration) could buy more than one house within one month. But on the evening of the same day, the policy was removed, according to media reports.

Home-buyers are more sensitive toward relaxed policies like "lowering down payments and easing purchasing restrictions," Yan said, noting that the cooling property market has made the local governments eager to boost the economy.

Zhang Ning, a researcher with the National Academy of Economic Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, echoed the opinion. Local governments' moves reflect their strong willingness to boost the local economy, but they also should consider long-term stability in the real estate industry. 

First-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai will still be under pressure from rising prices in the property market in the future, Zhang noted.