Weekly new home sales take a dive

HOME-BUYING momentum fell in Shanghai for another week amid a plunge in new supply, the latest market data showed.

The area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, dropped 15.5 percent to about 114,000 square meters during the seven days through Sunday, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co showed yesterday in its weekly report.

“A dive in new supply, particularly in the medium to low-end segment, led to the notable contraction in sales with an off-season factor continuing to plague the market,” said Lu Wenxi, Centaline’s senior research manager.

“In the near term, transactions will very likely remain subdued.”

Outlying Fengxian District was the most sought-after area with weekly sales reaching 24,000 square meters.

Nanhui area in the Pudong New Area and Qingpu District followed most closely with about 13,000 square meters.

The average cost of a new home fell 5.2 percent from a week earlier to 50,164 yuan (US$7,088) per square meter.

In last week’s top 10 list by area, three were in Fengxian, ranking No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5 with sales of 7,870 square meters, 5,881 square meters and 2,217 square meters.

Seven of the 10 most popular developments cost less than 50,000 yuan per square meter, with the cheapest at less than 18,000 yuan per square meter.

About 37,000 square meters of new houses spanning two projects were released into the local market, a dive of 65 percent week over week.