Shanghai existing house market dips slightly

Shanghai's pre-used home market weakened slightly last month after a brief rebound in September.

The city's existing housing index, which tracks month-over-month price changes in 130 areas around the city, fell .22 of a percent from September to 3,991 in October, Shanghai Existing House Index Office said in a report released today.

Prices of pre-owned homes rose in 50 areas, fell in 56 areas and were flat in 24 areas.

"The decline in both transaction and price of existing homes was mainly due to the National Day holiday that fell last month," the report said. "In general, centrally-located districts performed a little bit better than their counterparts in outlying areas."

Citywide, about 10,500 existing houses changed hands last month, a decrease of 14.8 percent from September, according to a separate report released by Shanghai Homelink Real Estate Agency Co.

In particular, Jinshan New City, Gucun in Baoshan District and Zhoukang in Pudong New Area were the three best-performing areas with 290 units, 270 units and 260 pre-owned homes sold, respectively, the office said.

By inventory, some 149,328 pre-used homes were available on the local market for sale by the end of October, a decrease of 4.5 percent from a month earlier, according to data compiled by the office.

Strictly enforced tightening measures coupled with the week-long holiday probably left last month one of the worst performing Octobers in history. 

In the new home market, the area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-funded affordable housing, dropped 36.9 percent from September to 335,000 square meters, or a dive of 61.4 percent from same period a year earlier, hindered mostly by extremely slack new supply, according to data released earlier by Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co.