Taiwan will open its commercial property market to the Chinese mainland in a bid to woo business investment, but mainland homebuyers will not be able to transfer the properties freely because of worries about real estate speculation, a senior official said Tuesday.

Commercial property can be transferred freely after purchase, but residential properties must be held for three years before being resold, Deng Chen-chung, deputy head of Taiwan's Economic Affairs Authority, said.

To encourage more mainlanders to purchase property on the island, Taiwan said Tuesday that people with property can stay for four months a year with multiple entries, instead of the previous one month.

Mainlanders have been able to buy real estate on the island since 2002, but only three investments worth at least 5 million yuan ($730,000) were granted by the Taiwan authority through last year, the People's Daily reported.

��Our company will invest in Taiwan if the authorities open up to more mainlanders,�� Meng Xiaosu, president of the China National Real Estate Development Group Cooperation, told the China News Agency.

��More businesspeople from the mainland will buy property in Taiwan. The well-known and luxury properties will be their first choice,�� he said.

This measure will have a limited effect on the Taiwan real estate market and the local economy in the short time, as the investment from the mainland might not be large, Li Fei, an expert on Taiwan from Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

��But it sends a positive signal in Taiwan under the economic recession. Mainland investment will stimulate local investment and foreign investment,�� he said.

Li said the measure is also a shift from former leader Chen Shui-bian's tenure.

��Chen set strict rules to restrict mainlanders coming to Taiwan,�� he said.

��Ma's move will improve cross-Straits relations,�� he said.