September pre-owned home market lives up to 'golden' expectations

Shanghai's existing housing market registered strong results in September with improved interest in larger units, the latest industry data shows.

Citywide, about 31,000 pre-owned homes changed hands last month, an increase of 4 percent from August. On a year-on-year basis, that number represents 46 percent growth, Shanghai Homelink Real Estate Agency Co said in a regular monthly report released on Monday.

By value, existing homes worth a total of 110.3 billion yuan (US$16.38 billion) were sold, a month-over-month increase of 8 percent and a year-on-year surge of 70 percent.

"September is the traditional 'golden' season for property sales and this year's sales were just as good as we had expected," said Yang Yulei, a senior analyst with Homelink. "Notably, more large units were purchased, while the average cost of an apartment also rose."

Preoccupied apartments larger than 90 square meters accounted for some 32 percent of total sales in September, compared with 28 percent recorded in the first half of the year, according to Homelink research.

In September, existing homes cost an average of 42,088 yuan per square meter, an increase of 5 percent from August. In terms of unit price, they sold for around 3.53 million yuan each, a rise of 4 percent from a month ago.

Citywide, Zhoukang in the Pudong New Area, Pujiang in Minhang District and Sanlin in Pudong were the most sought-after areas among pre-owned home seekers last month, with sales of 766, 683 and 646 homes, respectively, according to Homelink.

Over the first nine months of 2020, about 201,000 existing homes, valued at 657.6 billion yuan in total, were sold across the city, up 9 percent and 17 percent, respectively, from the same period a year ago. 

The average price of these homes stood at 3.27 million yuan per unit, or 39,887 yuan per square meter, up 7 percent and 4 percent year on year, respectively, Homelink data shows.