Market for new properties sees robust growth

SALES of new homes gained momentum in Shanghai last week as expected, with medium to high-end properties being the most popular, the latest market data shows.

The area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, surged to around 80,000 square meters during the seven days to Sunday, in sharp contrast to less than 4,000 square meters during the previous seven days, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a weekly report released yesterday.

“The Pudong New Area and outlying Jiading District were among the first to see a notable rebound after the weeklong Spring Festival holiday came to an end,” Lu Wenxi, Centaline’s senior research manager said. “Meanwhile, sentiment also started to improve as some real estate developers gear up for March, which is supposed to witness the first major sales boom in a year.”

Weekly transactions in Pudong and Jiading both stood at around 17,000 square meters, but several downtown districts registered very sluggish sales, Centaline data showed.

Citywide, new homes sold for an average price 62,977 yuan (US$9,296) per square meter, a week-on-week increase of 29.1 percent, the highest weekly rise this year.

Notably in the top 10 list, five projects asked for more than 80,000 yuan per square meter on average, including two with price tags of over 100,000 yuan per square meter.

Outperforming all was a residential development in Pudong which managed to sell 8,716 square meters, or 92 units, for an average price of 86,578 yuan per square meter. It was most closely trailed by a project in Anting, Jiading, where 58 units of new homes were unloaded for less than 30,000 yuan per square meter, according to Centaline data.