In China, property investors were hoping the limit of purchasing two homes was being lifted but the Chinese banking regulator insisted this was never the case, causing China's stocks to fall amidst the speculation.
"It's hard to believe that the government would reverse its crackdown on the property industry so quickly and anyone who hoped so is now disappointed," said Zhang Ling, a fund manager at Shanghai River Fund Management Co., to Bloomberg News. The shanghai Composite Index, which tracks the bigger of China's stock exchanges dropped by 1.6 per cent, which is its biggest decline since June 29.
Rumours about the real-estate curbs were splashed in newspapers, driving property prices down for the first time in 16 months. A recent China Daily headline read, "Third-home mortgages back in some big cities." The paper reported that banks in Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou were giving out loans prompting their counterparts in Beijing and Shenzhen to also reopen lending to anyone wanting to buy a third home. These supposedly available loans required a down payment of 50 per cent or more with extremely high interest rates.
However, the government said in a statement that its restrictions on property ownership have not changed, and commercial banks need to and should be carrying out the policies strictly.