Sales of new homes fell to a three-month low in Shanghai last week but the average cost remained high, according to latest market data.
The area of new homes sold, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, plunged 61.5 percent from the previous seven-day period to 218,200 square meters, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a report released yesterday.
"We saw a major drop in transactions over the past week while easing sentiment in the high-end and luxury segments caused the average price to fall, evidence of a cooling housing market in the city," said Lu Wenxi, senior manager of research at Shanghai Centaline.
The average price of the new homes fell 4.2 percent week over week to 41,734 yuan ($6,235) per square meter, still above 40,000 yuan per square meter for the fourth consecutive week, according to the Centaline data.
The suburban districts of Songjiang, Jiading and Qingpu continued to lead as their sales took a combined 45 percent of the total volume sold last week.
The supply of new housing, however, surged 168 percent week on week to nearly 218,000 square meters.
"On the other hand, new home supply rebounded notably to the highest level in six weeks, with medium- to low-end houses making the bulk," Lu said, adding that "for the first time in two months, new home supply managed to catch up with the transaction volume."
