NEW home sales dropped again in Shanghai last week amid prevalent "wait-and-see" sentiment, terminating a major rebound that lasted just a week, according to market data released today.
Purchases of new residential properties, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, fell 35.7 percent to 152,600 square meters during the week ending Sunday, Shanghai Deovolente Realty Co said in a report.
Average cost of a new home, meanwhile, rose nearly 5 percent week on week to 27,593 yuan (US$4,450) per square meter, Deovolente data showed.
"We expect the weakness to proceed over the coming two months during which high temperatures should keep more home searchers away from the market," said Lu Qilin, a Deovolente researcher. "On the other hand, real estate developers won't likely gear up until September and October, which are the traditional high season in China for property sales."
Across the city, a project in outlying Qingpu District registered sales of 89 apartment units last week at an average price of about 15,000 yuan per square meter, becoming the best-selling development during the seven-day period, Deovolente said.
On the supply side, new houses totaling 196,200 square meters were released to the local market, a surge of 61.8 percent from the previous week.
Notably, a shanghai property project near the Shanghai Railway Station in Zhabei District launched 95 apartments for sale last week with the highest asking price at the development hitting 298,000 yuan per square meter, a record for an apartment project in the city.
