New housing sales tick higher, led by Nanhui

Shanghai's new housing market rebounded moderately last week amid improving new supply, the latest market data showed.

The total area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, rose 5.9 percent week over week to around 151,000 square meters during the seven-day period ending Sunday, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a regular report released on Monday.

Across the city, the Nanhui region of the Pudong New Area remained the most sought-after area for the second straight week with sales totaling around 21,000 square meters. Downtown Jing'an District followed immediately with transactions hitting 19,000 square meters. Six other districts managed to rise above the 10,000-square-meter mark.

The average price of new homes, meanwhile, edged up 1.8 percent week over week to 58,383 yuan (US$8,220) per square meter.

"A couple of high-end projects in Jing'an have been rolled out into the market recently and that might continue to cushion sales in the district over the next few weeks," said Lu Wenxi, Centaline's senior researcher. 

"In contrast, Minhang District and the Pudong New Area, two traditionally popular areas among home upgraders, suffered lackluster sentiment with neither of them able to record more than 10,000 square meters in sales," Lu added.

Citywide, a project in Jing'an with an average price of 92,779 yuan per square meter outperformed all after selling 15,261 square meters, or 158 units, during the seven-day period. A development in remote Jinshan District trailed closely after unloading 4,377 square meters, or 38 apartments, for an average price of 31,545 yuan per square meter.

In the top 10 list by sales volume, one project ranked above the 100,000-yuan-per-square-meter mark and five cost less than 50,000 yuan per square meter.

On the supply side, some 49,000 square meters of new homes, the majority of them higher-end properties, were released into the local market last week, a surge of 117.6 percent from the previous seven-day period, according to Centaline data.

For this month, it's likely that new home sales would suffer a major setback from May amid a notable decline in new supply, Centaline predicted.