Rising mood lifts new home sales

Sales of new homes rose above 200,000 square meters for the second week in Shanghai, evidence of recovering sentiment as new supply increased.

The purchases of new homes, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, jumped 31.5 percent to 253,000 square meters last week, according to a report released yesterday by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co. For the first three weeks of April, 618,800 square meters of new homes were sold.

Meanwhile, the average cost of the new homes shed 7.5 percent from the previous seven-day period to 22,754 yuan (US$3,670) per square meter amid robust sales of mid to low-end properties.

"The growing new supply over the past two weeks helped boost sales, with buying sentiment in the low-end sector being quite strong," said Huang Zhijian, chief analyst with Uwin. "The units at the city's top five best-selling residential projects last week, for instance, were sold at under 18,000 yuan per square meter each."

New home supply rose 16.8 percent to 281,500 square meters during the seven-day period ended Sunday, staying above 200,000 square meters for the second consecutive week, Uwin said.

Next month 43 residential projects - 31 apartment projects and 12 villa developments - are set to be released, up from the 30 developments expected to unveil this month, Soufun.com said last week.