China home sales rise after stimulus measures, state media says

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's home sales rose during the National Day holiday after a string of property stimulus measures to boost the country's beleaguered real estate market since late September, state media said on Saturday.

Across the world's second-largest economy, policies including reductions in down-payment ratios and mortgage rates have been introduced this year to support the property sector, which previously made up one-quarter of economic activity.

During the week-long holiday period that started Tuesday, the number of house visits, which reflects a willingness to buy a home, increased significantly while sales of homes in many places rose to "varying degrees", state broadcaster CCTV reported.

More than 50 cities introduced policies to boost the real estate market, while nearly 2,000 developments from more than 1,000 property companies participated in promotions, CCTV said, citing the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

The number of visits to most of the projects participating in the promotions increased by more than 50% year-on-year, it added.

Last month, Guangzhou city in southern Guangdong province announced the lifting of all restrictions on home purchases, while Shanghai and Shenzhen said they would ease restrictions on housing purchases by non-local buyers and lower the minimum down-payment ratio for first home buyers to no less than 15%.

Those measures came days after China unveiled its biggest stimulus since the COVID-19 pandemic in a bid to pull the economy out of a deflationary funk.

(Reporting by Amy Lv and Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by William Mallard)