MORE new homes were bought in Shanghai last week as buying sentiment surged over 90 percent on a rush to complete the sales on fears the government may unveil further measures to cool the market, while the average cost soared again.
The area of new homes sold, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, soared 93 percent to 555,700 square meters, the highest seven-day volume in about five months, according to Shanghai Homelink Real Estate Agency Co.
Buyers paid an average 43,571 yuan (US$6,524) for new homes last week, a weekly gain of 5.6 percent, Homelink said.
“Robust momentum in the high-end and luxury segments in particular pushed the average price of new homes to a record again,” said Ke Xiaojuan, a researcher at Homelink.
Even as the city’s outlying areas such as Qingpu, Pudong and Songjiang continued to lead in transaction volume, sales in the high-end and luxury projects were strong, with units in three of the 10 most popular developments costing above 70,000 yuan per square meter.
