Chinese vacationers thinking about buying a home will come back to a stricter market when they return from the seven-day National Day Holiday. The number of cities announcing restrictions on property purchases rose to nine on Sunday. The restrictive measures include a rise in the minimum down payment and cap on the number of residential properties each family is allowed to buy.

Beijing was the first to announce such policy among the nine while Wuhan in central China is the latest. New rules issued by the local governments aim to halt soaring prices stoked by speculators.