Restrictions on foreigners buying real estate property in Beijing were called off as Beijing introduced a slew of measures Friday to revitalize the sluggish property market.

The residency requirement and house type limits for expatriates buying homes in Beijing has been called off throughout 2009, according to the 15 opinions co-released by nine departments -- including the municipal construction committee, development and reform commission and finance bureau of Beijing.

In its bid to curb overheated property market, the Beijing municipal government issued regulations in 2007 stipulating that only expatriates living in Beijing for more than one year and those who could provide details proving they would be the primary inhabitants could buy one house.

"In simple words, foreign expatriates in Beijing could buy only one house then," said Li Wenjie, general manager of real estate agency Centaline China's North China Branch. "The house price skyrocketed at that time. The government wanted to curb foreign capital from driving up the property price."

Foreign purchases accounted for seven to eight percent in all the real estate transaction in Beijing before the regulation took effect. After that, the number dropped to 0.5 percent, he said.

Due to customers' strong wait-and-see sentiment, the sold floor space of commercial residential buildings fell 40 percent in 2008 than the previous year. And the property price growth rate in 2008 was down 1.9 percent over 2007.

After China's State Council, or Cabinet, unveiled a real-estate stimulus package in November including tax and interest rate cuts to boost home purchases, the market showed signs of warming up.

The capital's total turnover of commercial residential buildings in November was 5,431 sets, a 58 percent gain year on year. The first half of January saw a turnover of 3,187 sets, up 19.8 percent then the previous year.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2009)