Shanghai new home sales slip 1%

New home sales in Shanghai remained below the 200,000-square-meter threshold for the seventh consecutive week as extremely sluggish momentum continued to dominate the market.

The purchases of new residential properties, excluding government-funded affordable housing, shed 1 percent to 149,000 square meters last week, Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co said in a report released today.

The new homes cost an average of 29,205 yuan ($4,684) per square meter, a week-on-week rise of 12.94 percent.

"Registered sales only reached 464,300 square meters in the first 25 days of this month for a daily average of 18,600 square meters," said Huang Zhijian, chief analyst at Uwin. "That's really slack for May. For the whole month transactions should be around 600,000 square meters, compared to 761,300 square meters in April."

While there seemed no clear sign of an immediate pickup in momentum among home seekers, some real estate developers may have already stopped sitting on the sidelines.

New home supply jumped 22.7 percent week-on-week to 290,500 square meters during the seven-day period ending on Sunday, remaining above the weekly average of 225,400 square meters registered over the past 12 months, according to Uwin data.

"This provides evidence that some developers have stopped their `wait-and-see' approach," Huang said. "However, their pricing strategies will still be important in determining whether sales bounce back since buying momentum is still low."

Across the city, a residential project in Nanxiang, Jiading District, sold 75 units at an average price of 20,432 yuan per square meter, making it the most sought-after development in the city last week, Uwin data showed.