THE average cost of a new home remained above 23,000 yuan (US$3,662) per square meter in Shanghai for the third straight week despite a contraction in sales.
The purchases of new residential properties, excluding government-funded affordable housing, fell 12.4 percent week on week to 216,300 square meters over seven days ended on Sunday, Shanghai Deovolente Realty Co said today.
The average price, meanwhile, retreated 4.2 percent to 24,416 yuan per square meter, according to Deovolente.
"Though waning sentiment continued to prevail among both real estate developers and home seekers with the Spring Festival approaching, demand for high-end homes still remained comparatively strong, allowing the average price to stay high for another week," said Lu Qilin, a Deovolente researcher. "We expect home sales to climb after the holiday amid recovering supply."
The city's top five best-selling projects last week all cost more than 28,000 yuan per square meter, Deovolente data showed.
On the supply side, about 35,200 square meters of new homes were released to the local market last week, a notable rebound from the previous seven-day period but still extremely inadequate compared with the weekly average of 175,000 square meters registered over the past 12 months, according to Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co.