Shanghai real estate market records weekly rebound

Sentiment among home buyers and real estate developers both rebounded notably in Shanghai last week, the latest market data show.

The total area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-funded affordable housing, jumped 39.3 percent to around 163,000 square meters during the seven-day period ending Sunday, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in its regular weekly report, released on Monday.

Across the city, the former Nanhui District surged to first place with weekly transactions hitting 48,000 square meters. The Pudong New Area, and the outlying districts of Qingpu and Songjiang, all managed to register sales above 10,000 square meters.

"The extremely robust sales recorded in Nanhui did go beyond market expectations," said Lu Wenxi, Centaline's senior research manager. "Last week's top three most popular projects were all located in Nanhui, which was very rare."

A project in remote Nanhui with a price tag of 30,978 yuan (US$4,417) per square meter dwarfed all by selling 16,709 square meters, or 190 units, of new homes during the seven-day period. It was closely trailed by two developments in the same area, which unloaded 164 units together for between 56,500 yuan and 59,900 yuan per square meter.

The average price of a new home fell 14.9 percent from a week earlier to 51,203 yuan per square meter. Six of the 10 best-selling projects had price tags below 60,000 yuan per square meter, with three of them asking for less than 40,000 yuan per square meter.

New home supply, meanwhile, also witnessed a major rebound. About 155,000 square meters of new houses, spanning six projects, were launched across the city, a week-over-week surge of 24.5 percent, according to Centaline data.