Second-hand home market gathers momentum

Shanghai's existing housing market regained some strength last month after a minor retreat in June, the latest industry data showed.

Citywide, about 29,000 pre-owned homes changed hands in July, an increase of 3 percent from a month earlier. On a year-on-year basis, that number represents 40 percent growth, Shanghai Homelink Real Estate Agency Co said in a regular monthly report released on Thursday.

By value, existing homes worth a total of 96 billion yuan (US$13.8 billion) were sold, a month-over-month increase of 5 percent and a year-on-year gain of 51 percent.

"The local market recovered pretty quickly after a mild withdrawal in June, while growth continued to accelerate on a year-on-year basis, indicating resilience of the market," said Yang Yulei, a senior analyst with Homelink. "If this momentum is maintained, we expect the market to fully catch up as early as this month."

Over the first seven months of 2020, about 140,000 existing homes, valued at 445.1 billion yuan in total, were sold across the city, down 3 percent and up 2 percent, respectively, from the same period a year ago. The average price of these homes stood at 3.18 million yuan per unit, or 39,313 yuan per square meter, up 4 percent and 2 percent year on year, respectively, Homelink data showed.

In July alone, pre-occupied homes cost an average of 40,141 yuan per square meter, almost unchanged from the previous month. In terms of unit price, they sold for around 3.36 million yuan each, an increase of 2 percent from June.

By area, Sanlin in the Pudong New Area, Nanqiao New City in Fengxian District and Pujiang in Minhang District remained the most sought-after areas among pre-owned home seekers last month, with sales of 652, 643 and 637 homes, respectively, according to Homelink.

Among all pre-owned deals reached via Homelink, 13 percent of owners raised their prices and 50 percent offered some reductions, the brokerage chain said.