For much of the past decade, China’s efforts to curb property speculation have become increasingly aggressive and extensive.

Shanghai has made it so anyone who divorces will be subject to home-purchase restrictions for three years, in a bid to discourage couples who divorce simply to buy a second home as an investment. In Chengdu, only local residents who pay social welfare taxes and win a lottery can buy a new home. In Tangshan, anyone who buys a home must hold onto it for at least three and a half years.

Those restrictions, and others elsewhere, have been lifted as China tries to revive its badly depressed property market.last yearSince 2016, more than 25 cities in China have lifted all property purchase restrictions, and many places have also scrapped regulations that prevented developers from lowering prices.

Last month, the central government went a step further by lowering down payment requirements, easing mortgage rules and urging local governments to buy up unsold homes and convert them into affordable housing.

But some of China’s efforts to stimulate home buying are making one of the most vocal groups in China unhappy: existing homeowners.

Many homeowners who saved up to buy their homes as a major family investment now worry that loosening restrictions will drive down property prices. The new policies have triggered a wave of NIMBYs in the Communist-ruled country.

The government must tread carefully as it addresses the collapse of a property sector that accounts for a quarter of China’s economy. Discontent with the economy could destabilize society, as could a backlash from homeowners, many of whom hope their properties will create wealth for future generations.

Many of the restrictions were lifted by policymakers who enacted the measures years ago to comply with a directive from China’s leader, Xi Jinping: “Houses are for living in, not for speculation.”

When Chengdu lifted the purchase restrictions in late April, some people complained on the government website, saying it was unfair to those who had obtained the right to buy a house when the purchase restrictions were in place. The complainant said that they had moved to Chengdu and paid social security taxes for several years to be eligible to buy a house.

“I used to regard the qualification to buy a house in Chengdu as an honor and a proof of my own hard work,” the person wrote. But now anyone can buy a house, even those who have “made no contribution to Chengdu.” The person asked officials to “restore the purchase restrictions as soon as possible.”

One of the rare acts of defiance in China in recent years has come from homeowners, who banded together in tens of thousands to refuse to make loan payments on pre-sold properties starting in 2022. The government has since prioritized policies that push developers to finish construction on properties they’ve already sold.

Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at investment bank Natixis, said it would be difficult to stimulate buying by lifting restrictions because it would fuel concerns that something was wrong in the market.

“It’s difficult to take steps like this in a timely manner — it’s usually too late,” García-Herrero said. “It’s not a solution in any way.”

New home prices in China’s largest cities have fallen for 11 consecutive months. In April, they dropped 0.6% from the previous month, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. Prices in smaller second- and third-tier cities have fallen by a similar amount.

The housing price plunge is a recent phenomenon. Local and city governments once prevented property companies from slashing prices. Previous controls were meant to stop developers from raising prices too aggressively.

But around the end of last year, as the economic slowdown continued and home sales became more difficult, local governments began allowing developers to cut prices.

In November, Chengdu officials punished a local developer for cutting prices below list price, saying the project was “suspected of disrupting the normal order of the real estate market,” in response to a complaint on a government website.

Five months later, another homeowner complained about a price cut by the developer but was ignored. Chengdu officials said they would not take any action because the developer was using a “market-adjusted price.”

In central Xi’an, Fei Liu paid about 3 million yuan for a four-bedroom apartment in January. Later, she discovered that the state-owned developer Poly Group was offering discounts of about 290,000 yuan to recent buyers of similar apartments. She said she learned that the developer’s sales staff pressured buyers to pay down payments and then announced deep discounts the day after receiving the deposits.

“Everyone is going to be very angry,” said Ms. Liu, 27. “This is a complete scam of consumers.”

Ms. Liu said property owners in her complex called the Xi’an mayor’s office to demand compensation equivalent to a discount. The authorities responded that they had no power to stop the discounts and likened them to promotions at shopping malls.

Protesting owners worried that Poly would cut corners on construction to offset discounts, and some owners who went to Poly’s sales offices were met by police who warned them not to cause trouble or disrupt the state-owned company’s business.

“This is collusion between the government and the developers,” Mr. Liu said.

Pauley did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The government’s relaxation of restrictions on price cuts addresses two long-standing problems.

First, it allows money to flow to debt-ridden developers to pay interest and repay loans. Second, it reduces the inventory of unsold homes. Australian banking group ANZ estimates it would take 3.6 years to process all of China’s unsold residential properties, 50% longer than it took during China’s last major real estate bust in 2014.

The government’s plan, announced last month, to convert unsold homes into affordable housing has particularly caused friction, with some owners unhappy about the mix of public housing and private developments.

Last month, someone complained on a Sichuan provincial website that a local state-owned enterprise had converted some newly built homes into public housing. The person, who bought a home in the complex two years ago, said more than 100 new apartments were converted into public housing without consulting existing homeowners. In the complaint, the person expressed dissatisfaction with paying a high price for a property but only getting “the quality of a public rental housing complex.”

“The value of the community has plummeted,” the person wrote. “The owners who have already bought houses are suffering.”

In its response to the complaint, the state-owned enterprise said it supported national policy and that the homes were subject to “market price management.”

Kevin Duan, who bought an apartment in a nearly completed complex in Changsha where one of 20 buildings will become public housing, said owners were angry and demanded that the affordable units be separated from the rest of the complex.

“I don’t think a commercial housing community should have public rental housing,” Kevin Duan said. “If I knew from the beginning that it was a public rental housing community, I would definitely not consider it.”