Photo: Xinhua

A rising number of Chinese cities are issuing coupons for housing purchases in a bid to boost the flagging property market and prop up economic recovery in the fourth quarter.

Based on incomplete statistics, 19 localities have issued such coupons, which are valid for buying homes or the furnishings, thepaper.cn reported.

For example, in East China's Jiangxi Province, people who purchase new homes with a floor space of more than 90 square meters in the Honggutan district of Nanchang city during the fourth quarter can get a 40,000 yuan ($5,500) coupon for a new home, the Jiangxi real estate association said on its official WeChat account on Monday. Qualified buyers can use the coupons to shop at designated merchants. 

In Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province, those who complete their housing purchases between September 1 and October 31 can apply for a voucher for home appliances worth 5,000 yuan, Henan Daily reported. The city will offer 60 million yuan worth of such vouchers.

Other cities, including Changchun in Northeast China's Jilin Province, Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang Province, and Zaozhuang in East China's Shandong Province have similar policies.

The coupons can unleash demand for apartments and drive up consumption in related sectors such as home appliances and interior home decoration, experts said.

A report by China Securities said that China will maintain its overall economic recovery trend in the fourth quarter, driven by growing investment in infrastructure and real estate. 

Infrastructure investment is expected to grow by more than 10 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, benefiting from strong capital support, while the decline in the growth rate of real estate investment is expected to narrow with new policies taking effect to stabilize the property market, Wu Chaoming, deputy head of the Chasing Research Institute, told the Global Times.

He noted that positive adjustments in real estate policies, including the reduction of the 5-year loan prime rate (the reference rate for mortgages), and adjustment of the down payment ratio in many cities, as well as the relaxation of purchase and sale restrictions will play a positive role in stabilizing market expectations. 

Chinese authorities are ramping up efforts to finish stalled real estate projects and ensure housing delivery to buyers by rolling out special loans offered by the country's policy-oriented lenders to support cities in need of promoting construction and delivery of stalled residential projects.

Such measures are expected to infuse capital into these stalled projects and promote the resumption of housing construction, Wu added.