China Should Let Some Regions Relax Home Purchase Limits: Herald

China should consider relaxing home purchase limits in some areas and lowering mortgage interest rates to first-time homebuyers, so as to gradually restore market confidence, as a sudden drop in prices threatens the financial system, the 21st Century Business Herald reported citing comments made by unidentified bank presidents in internal meetings. By Oct. 31, the balance of housing loans was CNY37.7 trillion, up by CNY348.1 billion from September, and the incremental gain was CNY101.3 billion more than September's, the newspaper said citing housing loan data that was separately disclosed for the first time, which the newspaper said was a strong message sent by the central bank. The improvement indicated residents' willingness to buy houses has grown following the marginal easing of lending policy in some cities, the newspaper cited analysts as saying.