Shanghai has reiterated that its existing property curbs restricting the number of homes a family can buy are unchanged in response to some media reports claiming that stricter rules have been recently implemented.

"There is no change in the implementation of the home-purchase ban in Shanghai at the moment, which allows local family with one house to buy one more while entitling qualified non-local household with no residential property to purchase one only," said a statement posted Wednesday on the website of the Shanghai Municipal Housing Support and Building Administration Bureau.

There were media reports yesterday that said some district-level housing authorities, including Baoshan, Yangpu, Huangpu and Jing'an, have since the middle of this month banned unmarried non-locals from buying homes, even though they could provide tax or social insurance certificates to verify their length of stay in the city exceeded 12 accumulated months over two years as required by the government.

"Household usually refers to a couple," the Oriental Morning Post reported Wednesday, citing an unidentified local property service hotline staff. "It was issued in January last year and was by no means a new policy."

However, Winnie Zhu, a sales person at a new residential project in Pujiang Town, Minhang District, has confirmed with Shanghai Daily that before mid-June, there was no requirement on a buyer's marital status in his or her home-buying eligibility.