Shanghai extends residential property rebound

New home-buying sentiment climbed for a third consecutive week in Shanghai as outlying districts continued to lead a market recovery.

The total area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-funded affordable housing, surged 102.3 percent week over week to around 64,000 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, Qingpu District replaced the Nanhui region of the Pudong New Area to become the most sought-after area with weekly sales of 8,649 square meters. Fengxian District trailed the most closely with seven-day transactions hitting 6,605 square meters. Nanhui, as well as districts of Jiading and Songjiang, all reached above the 6,000-square-meter mark.

As momentum continued to build, the average price of a new home remained relatively high despite a slight retreat from the previous week when a year-to-date high was registered. New homes sold for an average 61,612 yuan (US$8,830) per square meter, a week-over-week drop of 2.7 percent, according to Centaline data.

"High-end developments continued to attract buyers' attention over the past week with two projects above the 100,000-yuan-per-square-meter mark staying atop the best-seller list," said Lu Wenxi, Centaline's senior researcher. "And none in the top 10 list sold for less than 30,000 yuan per square meter."

A Shui On Land project in downtown Hongkou District, priced at an average 115,972 yuan per square meter, emerged as the most popular development after unloading 5,219 square meters, or 35 units. One project in Putuo, costing 107,066 yuan per square meter on average, followed immediately with a weekly transaction of 3,837 square meters, or 29 units, Centaline data showed.

On the supply side, the loss of momentum among real estate developers extended for a seventh consecutive week due to the COVID-19 outbreak, industry analysts said.