The number of visitors to apartments listed for sale in Beijing surged after the city eased restrictions on homes within the Fifth Ring Road and increased the maximum borrowing limit for housing loans from the housing provident fund. These loans are particularly appealing because they come with significantly lower interest rates compared to traditional bank mortgages. Guo noted that the new policy is expected to have a stronger impact on the volume of pre-owned home transactions than new property sales. Conversely, sales of new developments outside the Fifth Ring Road and high-end projects within the ring remain sluggish, according to an employee at a leading real estate developer. While most popular developments saw increased interest over the weekend, sales at previously slow-moving projects remained “largely unchanged,” another real estate agent observed.