Shanghai home market carries rally into fourth week

Shanghai's new housing market extended its strength for a fourth straight week despite a plunge in new supply, the latest market data showed. 

The total area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, climbed 7 percent week over week to around 229,000 square meters during the seven-day period ending Sunday, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a regular report issued on Monday.

Meanwhile, only some 48,000 square meters of new homes spanning three projects were released into the local market, a drop of 76.5 percent from the previous seven-day period.

"Outlying areas acted as the main engines driving the growth of the market for another week with Jinshan District, which is seldom a top performer, recording extremely robust sales of 37,000 square meters," said Lu Wenxi, Centaline's senior researcher. "However, as new supply continued to fall, we expect some correction of the market to happen soon, particularly after a four-week rally."

The average price of new homes rose 3.5 percent week over week to 56,201 yuan (US$7,947) per square meter amid a structural shift toward medium and high-end properties.

In the top 10 list by sales volume, three cost above 100,000 yuan per square meter or above, compared with only one in that price range during the previous week, according to Centaline data.

Two Shui On Land projects, one in Hongkou District and the other in the downtown Xintiandi area of Huangpu District, secured spots on the list with weekly sales of 4,807 square meters and 3,463 square meters. The two developments, bearing an average price of 112,554 yuan per square meter and 145,534 yuan per square meter, respectively, ranked No.4 and No.7 in the list.

Across the city, a development in Jinshan topped all after unloading 26,297 square meters, or 235 apartments, for an average price of nearly 30,000 yuan per square meter during the seven-day period, Centaline data showed.