Chengdu to lift restrictions on home purchases to boost housing market

The city of Chengdu in southwestern China on Sunday announced it would cancel restrictions on home purchases, including the housing lottery system and purchase qualifications for commercial housing, in a drive to streamline sales and boost the local real estate market.

The new measures enable enterprises to handle housing sales independently, bypassing the previous public lottery system. This change is expected to speed up the process from obtaining pre-sale permits to finalizing purchases.

Chengdu's reforms also include lifting restrictions on the number of housing units one can purchase. The updated policy eliminates the need for reviews based on household registration, social security records, or other prior buying conditions, which will simplify the purchase process for all residents.

This policy shift distinguishes Chengdu from several other Chinese cities and provinces, including first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, which continue to enforce housing purchase restrictions.

Israel army's gunfire killed a UN staffer and injured another UN employee on Monday in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza, the Hamas-run media office said.

In a statement, the media office said that the UN staffers were traveling in a vehicle belonging to the UN and bearing UN flags and markings when they were hit.

The death of the UN staffer was confirmed by the United Nations. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday in a statement that he was "deeply saddened to learn of the death of a United Nations Department of Safety and Security (DSS) staff member and injury to another DSS staffer when their UN vehicle was struck as they traveled to the European Hospital in Rafah this morning".