China's new home-buying policies were meant to make it easier for people to put a roof over their heads, but they've brought nothing but trouble to Xi Ning and his fiancee, who've quarreled many times before even getting the keys to a new home.

Xi, a 26-year-old journalist in Beijing, signed an agreement on October 19 to buy a second-hand apartment. A week later, the government announced a reduction in required down payments and a waiver on stamp taxes for property deals. But most enabling regulations and details have yet to be released, leaving Xi and others in the lurch.

"Most banks have not decided their lending rates for home-buyers. And the Beijing municipal government has not made it clear to what extent I can enjoy the tax cut."

Xi had just 300 yuan (US$44) in his account after making the initial payment of 330,000 yuan, but the bank suspended its lending to determine a new rate system after the announcement of the new policies.

Xi can't proceed without specific rules from banks and the tax bureau.

"My life is a mess. All I do is wait for my loan," Xi said. "My fiancee blames me for a hasty decision, and now I wish I'd never done it."

Effective on November 1, the Finance Ministry cut the deed tax on purchases to 1 percent from 1.5 percent for first-time buyers of residences smaller than 90 square meters.

For those buying their first home, the minimum down payment was cut to 20 percent from 30 percent, and banks were allowed to charge as little as 70 percent of the central bank base lending rates for such mortgages.

Banks play wait-and-see

The central government gave commercial banks freedom to decide their own mortgage rates, ranging from 5.04 percent to 7.2 percent. But among the four major commercial banks, Agricultural Bank of China was the only one that had published its lending rate as of Monday.

Chinese banks are mostly state-owned commercial banks, which have been less affected by the global financial crisis. Most lent cautiously to the more credit-worthy borrowers.

Analysts said banks were struggling to keep a balance between attracting borrowers and maintaining profit margins.

"As mortgage lending is shrinking, each commercial bank is waiting for others to announce the rates first, so they can try to compete with an even lower rate," said Guo Tianyong, a banking expert at the China Central Finance and Economics University.

"Banks and buyers may need to wait for a long time," he said.