Stable performance in previously owned local homes

Sales of previously owned homes changed little in Shanghai in August from the previous month as housing-upgrade demand continued.

About 19,000 lived-in homes, valued at around 65.6 billion yuan (US$9.39 billion) in total, changed hands across the city last month, a month-over-month dip of 3 percent and 1 percent, respectively, according to latest data from Shanghai Homelink Real Estate Agency Co.

"Over the past month, we've noticed there were more buyers seeking apartments larger than 90 square meters while properties remained on the market for a shortened period of time," said Yang Yulei, a senior analyst with Homelink. "That has given us some confidence for September and October, which usually register the best performances of the year."

The average cost of an existing home was 3.36 million yuan in August, an increase of 2 percent from July.

Citywide, Nanqiao in suburban Fengxian District, the core area of suburban Jiading District and Zhoukang in the Pudong New Area continued to be the most sought-after areas among home buyers. Jinshan New Town in suburban Jinshan District and Sanlin in Pudong were also popular options, Homelink data showed.

"The current pace of sales was okay," said Lu Wenxi, a senior researcher at Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co. "On the one hand, less than 10,000 lived-in homes were added to the local inventory per week in August, which was pretty low, while on the other hand, new home supply was ample during the same period."

More than 11,560 new housing units, excluding government-subsidized affordable homes, were released in Shanghai last month, an increase of 13 percent from July, according to Homelink data.

For the first eight months of 2022, around 96,000 units of lived-in homes valued at 308.1 billion yuan were sold around the city, a decrease of 56 percent and 58 percent, respectively, from the same period a year ago. That continued to improve from a drop of 62 percent and 64 percent registered in the first seven months.

On average, existing homes sold for 3.2 million yuan per unit during the January-August period, down 5 percent annually.

And properties remained on the market for an average of less than 40 days last month compared with more than 60 days in June.