Weekly new home sales rebound sharply

New home sales rebounded, as expected, in Shanghai during the last week of November with northern Baoshan District continuing to attract most buyers.

The total area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-funded affordable housing, jumped 33.2 percent to around 180,000 square meters during the seven-day period ending Sunday, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in its regular weekly report, released on Monday.

Across the city, Baoshan remained the most sought-after area for the second straight week with transactions totaling 54,000 square meters, compared with some 23,000 square meters recorded during the previous seven-day period.

Qingpu District, and the former Nanhui District, which ranked second and third in the previous week, both maintained weekly sales above 18,000 square meters.

"Last week's rebound was mainly boosted by one single project while no other developments around the city managed to register weekly sales of over 50 units, indicating that the general momentum among home seekers still remains rather lacklustre," said Lu Wenxi, Centaline's senior research manager. "We don't expect such strength to extend and for the next few weeks, transaction volume would probably remain stable at rather low levels."

The average price of a new home fell 2.2 percent from a week earlier to 53,108 yuan (US$7,539) per square meter.

Half of the 10 best-selling projects had price tags above 50,000 yuan per square meter, with none exceeding the 90,000 yuan per square meter barrier.

Citywide, one development in Baoshan dwarfed all by selling 35,856 square meters, or 336 units, of new homes for an average price of 57,511 yuan per square meter. It was followed by another project in the same district, which sold 4,529 square meters, or 44 apartments, for an average price of 43,739 yuan per square meter, according to Centaline data.

On the supply side, about 76,000 square meters of new houses, spanning two projects, were launched across the city, a week-over-week dive of 38.6 percent, Centaline data showed.

For November, new home transactions witnessed a major recovery in the city while average prices decreased moderately, a regular report by Centaline, which was released on the same day, showed.

A total of around 703,000 square meters of new residential properties were sold across the city last month, a surge of 30.7 percent from October.

"Supported by ample supply, the first week of November took off to exceed 200,000 square meters, setting a good foundation for the month," Lu said. "Despite falls in the following two weeks, the overall performance of November was still quite satisfactory, partly helped by the quite significant rebound in the final week."

Citywide, Baoshan outperformed all, mainly backed by robust sales recorded last week at two projects located in Yanghang and Zhangmiao, according to Centaline data.

The average price for a new home dipped 3.7 percent from a month ago to 52,335 yuan per square meter.

Across the city, some 484,000 square meters of new homes, spanning 16 projects, were released into the local market, a drop of 20.8 percent from October, Centaline data showed.