Beijing is the first city to respond to the central government's efforts to restrain sizzling home prices by limiting families to purchases of only one new home.

Li Wenjie, head of Centaline Property Agency's Beijing office, said the measure was even tougher than that announced by the central government two weeks ago. "The measure will cut home demand and, as a result, it will substantially hit sales volumes and prices," Li said.

The Beijing city government yesterday announced 12 measures in the latest move to curb speculation in the red-hot property market. The most controversial is the temporary measure that says every homebuying family is only allowed to purchase one new unit. The 11 other rules closely adhere to those already rolled out by the State Council, including higher down payments and raised mortgage rates. The measure does not state if the one new home families are allowed to buy is in addition to however many they may own now.

South China Morning Post