(Yicai Global) Aug. 15 -- Chinese cities, including Changchun and Zunyi, have been easing the policies that regulate their property markets to encourage rural residents to buy houses in urban areas, as the speed of China’s urbanization slows.

Changchun, capital of Jilin province, recently introduced a subsidy of CNY200 (USD30) per square meter for farmers, graduates, and intermediate or higher-level technicians who buy homes that are eligible under a new scheme, while Zunyi in Guizhou province proposed last month to help migrant workers buy property in the city without losing any rural land rights they have.

The urbanization of China goes on, but demand among farmers for urban housing has shrunk compared with before 2015, Zhang Bo, director of 58 Anjuke Real Estate Research Institute, told Yicai Global, adding that since then, the housing stock in third- and fourth-tier cities has met their needs.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top planner, recently published an article that said China is in the middle-to-late stage of rapid urbanization, and a slower rate is becoming the trend.

Some 12.05 million Chinese people moved to the cities last year, the least in 26 years, slowing growth in the nation’s urbanization to 0.8 percentage point, below 1 point for first time in 26 years, while the rural headcount fell below 500 million for the first time in 70 years

Guizhou also plans to explore a house waiver mechanism and sharing of value-added land income to help farmers raise money to buy city homes

The impact of the slowdown in urbanization on property markets will affect the various regions and cities differently, Zhang said. Areas such as the Yangtze River Delta and the Greater Bay Area will still have big population inflows, with their main cities and metropolitan areas enjoying relatively large room for development, he said.

The number of migrant workers and their family members moving to cities, which is directly related to urbanization, has fallen since 2018. Due to the pandemic, the figure fell by 6.8 million, or 3.8 percent, in 2020 from 2019. Despite recording a slight year-on-year increase in 2021, it dropped by 6.1 million, or 3.5 percent, to about 169 million last year from 2019.

Editor: Futura Costaglione