The eastern Chinese city of Nantong, with a population of more than 7 million, has introduced a new rule to ban near-term resale of certain cheap homes in the latest step by authorities in the country to curb property market speculation.

On Wednesday the government of Nantong, near Shanghai and a number of other port cities, said property buyers who have bought new homes at prices much lower than the market average are not allowed to resell their properties for five years.