Lujiazui area in Shanghai Photo:Xinhua

Shanghai on Tuesday further eased its restrictions on home purchases, as it moved to allow unmarried individuals without local residency status who have paid taxes in the city for at least five years to buy homes in certain areas.

The move is very targeted and timely in addressing a pressing issue that affects both many unmarried individuals and overall housing demand, and will, along with other support measures, help boost the local real estate market, industry analysts noted.

In a notice released on Tuesday, housing authorities in Shanghai announced that non-local residents who have paid income taxes in the city for at least five years will be allowed to buy one home in suburban areas of the city.

While the notice was relatively short, the move was significant, according to industry analysts.

Yan Yuejin, research director at the Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute, said that the move effectively lifted a previous restriction on purchases by unmarried individuals who did not have hukou, or residency registration, in Shanghai, continuing a trend of policy optimization in the real estate industry.

"Shanghai has basically adjusted the strict policies enacted when the market was overheated, creating a good policy environment for the market," Yan said in a note sent to the Global Times on Tuesday. "With the effect of a series of policies emerging, the confidence and enthusiasm of homebuyers to enter the market will be significantly enhanced, and the pace of home purchases will also accelerate."

Many Chinese cities have taken active measures to boost home sales and stabilize the real estate market since this week.

Also on Tuesday, an official in Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province said that the city has lifted restrictions on home purchases, according to media reports.

Meanwhile, central government officials have vowed various efforts to support real estate developers and address other challenges in the industry.

On Friday, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development called on localities to implement and adjust policy tools in the real estate sector based on local conditions, in order to achieve positive results and the steady development of the sector. The ministry also vowed to support real estate development programs by the coordination mechanism, and treat developers of various ownerships equally by approving their reasonable financing demand.

One day earlier, officials of the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) vowed to step up efforts to support the property sector and meet the reasonable financing demands of real estate companies.

The NFRA is accelerating the implementation of a coordinated financing mechanism with different localities and has presented a list of real estate projects that are eligible for financing support to the administrative regions, according to an official.

At a meeting on Tuesday, the NFRA vowed again that it will speed up the implementation of the coordinated financing mechanism and urge financial institutions to firmly support affordable housing.