SALES of new residential properties rose for the second week in Shanghai to stand above the 200,000-square-meter threshold again, evidence of recovering sentiment following an increase in new supply.
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 today by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co. For the first three weeks of April, new home sales totaled 618,800 square meters.
Average cost the new homes, meanwhile, dropped 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.
"Continuously 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 city's top five best-selling residential projects last week, for instance, all carried a price of less than 18,000 yuan a square meter."
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, according to Uwin data.
And more housing projects are set to come into the local market next month.
Some 43 residential projects, consisting of 31 apartment projects and 12 villa developments, are expected to be released in May, compared to 30 developments set to come out this month, Soufun.com said last week.