Shanghai home market reaches year-to-date high

Home buying momentum jumped to a year-to-date high in Shanghai last week as ample new supply coupled with month-end effect had a combined positive impact on the market.

The total area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-funded affordable housing, rose 31 percent week over week to 303,000 square meters during the seven-day period ending Sunday, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a regular report issued on Monday.

Remote Songjiang District, where sales hit some 50,000 square meters, outperformed all of its counterparts during the last week of October. Minhang District trailed most closely with sales of 48,000 square meters, whereas Jiading District came third with about 30,000 square meters of new houses being sold there.

"Nine districts/areas registered weekly transaction volume of over 10,000 square meters as real estate developers geared up to create their monthly reports," said Lu Wenxi, Centaline's senior researcher. "Meanwhile, they also launched more products into the local market to boost sales for the last two months of this year."

About 120,000 square meters of new homes, spanning four projects, were released across the city, a notable rebound of 44.7 percent from the previous seven-day period, according to Centaline data.

The average new home price edged up 2.4 percent week over week to 54,909 yuan (US$8,200) per square meter, according to Centaline data.

Citywide, a project in Songjiang dwarfed all others after selling 19,995 square meters, or 210 apartments, for an average price of 46,083 yuan per square meter. It was followed by a development in Minhang which sold 14,466 square meters, or 133 units of new homes, at an average price of 64,666 yuan per square meter.

Among the top 10 projects by sales, five cost less than 50,000 yuan per square meter, while the most expensive sold for around 65,000 yuan per square meter.