SEVEN-DAY new home sales fell last week in Shanghai amid lackluster supply while a structural shift helped push up average price above the 50,000 yuan (US$7,222) per square meter threshold for the first time in five weeks.
The area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-funded affordable housing, dropped 12.8 percent from the previous week to 165,000 square meters, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a report released today.
By area, outlying Qingpu District took the lead with transaction volume reaching 33,000 square meters, a week-over-week rise of 22.2 percent. Pudong New Area, where sales surged 78.5 percent to 25,000 square meters, closely trailed.
"New home supply stayed below 100,000 square meters for two straight weeks, indicating rather slack momentum among real estate developers," said Lu Wenxi, senior manager of research at Centaline. "Weakness is expected to prevail in the market for some time with no signs for any policy relaxation."
Citywide, only about 81,000 square meters of new homes were released to the local market last week, down from some 84,600 square meters registered in the previous seven-day period, Centaline data showed.
On the price side, fuelled by rather robust sentiment in the medium- to high-end segments, the average price of a new home climbed 7 percent to 50,217 yuan per square meter.
Half the 10 best-selling projects cost 50,000 yuan per square meter and above. The most popular development, an apartment project in Zhangjiang of Pudong, recorded sales of 102 units at an average price of 63,324 yuan per square meter.
In its latest move to stabilize and regulate the city's overheated housing market, Shanghai government announced last week that a lottery system should be introduced in property sales at all new residential developments around the city. Notary offices are obliged to get involved in sales process to ensure fair play, the government said, without elaborating when the new regulation should be enforced.
--source from Shanghai Daily
