New property sales dip, despite surge in supplies

Weak momentum among buyers persisted in Shanghai's new housing market for another week despite a rebound in new supply, the latest market data show.

The total area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, fell 4.9 percent week over week to around 156,000 square meters during the seven-day period ending Sunday, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a regular report issued on Monday.

Citywide, remote Qingpu District, the Nanhui region of the Pudong New Area and Fengxian District outperformed with weekly sales of around 20,000 square meters, 18,000 square meters and 15,000 square meters, respectively, Centaline data show.

"Despite the moderate retreat, weekly transactions of new homes still managed to stay above the 150,000-square-meter mark, which was not too bad," said Lu Wenxi, Centaline's senior researcher. "As new supply recovers notably, we expect sales to improve soon."

About 195,000 square meters of new homes spanning seven projects were released into the local market last week, compared with some 45,000 square meters rolled out during the previous seven-day period.

The average new home price, meanwhile, dropped 17.1 percent week over week to 55,339 yuan (US$7,890) per square meter, mainly due to a structural shift, Centaline data indicate.

On the list of 10-top projects, none exceeded 90,000 yuan per square meter, and half of them cost less than 50,000 yuan per square meter.

Topping all was a project in Chongming District, where some 4,100 square meters, or 40 units, of new homes were unloaded for an average price of 35,594 yuan per square meter. Two developments, one in Pudong and the other in Putuo District, both bearing a price tag over 85,000 yuan per square meter, ranked No.2 and No.3 after selling 3,802 square meters, or 33 units, and 2,653 square meters, or 17 units, respectively.