Shanghai home sales climb amid absence of new supply

New home sales in Shanghai maintained upward trajectory for another week, though zero new supply continued to plague the market, the latest data showed.

The total area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, rose 11.4 percent week over week to around 186,000 square meters during the seven-day period ending Sunday, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a regular report issued on Monday.

The average cost of new homes, however, dropped 8.3 percent to 47,257 yuan (US$7,169) per square meter, as medium- to low-end properties remained the most sought-after among home buyers.

"The weekly gain was rather moderate because the month-end effect, meaning strong sales are often seen in the last few days of a month as real estate developers gear up for better monthly performance, was kind of offset by absence of new supply for two consecutive weeks," said Lu Wenxi, Centaline's senior researcher. "However, we remain optimistic for the last month of 2020 with new supply expected to rebound notably over the next couple of weeks."

Citywide, the Pudong New Area led all with weekly sales of some 25,000 square meters. It was followed by remote Fengxian and Jiading districts, where about 24,000 square meters and 20,000 square meters of new houses were sold, respectively.

A project in Pudong emerged as the most popular development after unloading 19,883 square meters, or 171 units, at an average price of 48,736 yuan per square meter. A development in Qingpu with an average price of just over 52,000 yuan per square meter, ranked  the third, and was the most expensive one in the top-10 list.

Among top projects by sales, nine cost less than 50,000 yuan per square meter, including a project in Jinshan District with an average price of less than 28,000 yuan per square meter, according to Centaline data.