Home sales remain slow in city, but jump in luxury unit deals lifts average price

By Cherry Cao | July 21, 2014, Monday |

Online Edition

SLUGGISH sentiment continued to prevail in Shanghai with new residential property sales remaining below the 150,000-square-meter threshold for the second straight week, market data suggest.

Purchases of new homes, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, edged up 0.98 percent to 134,900 square meters from the previous week, Shanghai Deovolente Realty Co said today.

Average cost of the new houses rose 6.8 percent week on week to 28,336 yuan (US$4,570) per square meter amid comparatively robust sales of luxury properties, according to Deovolente data.

"While some real estate developers already started to cut prices to lure potential buyers, the discounts offered so far seemed rather unattractive," said Lu Qilin, a researcher with Deovolente. "If such a scenario continues, we expect developers to provide larger cuts as late as September, which is usually the best season for property sales in China."

Sales of luxury homes, each costing more than 50,000 yuan per square meter, totaled 100 units last week, a significant increase of 62 from the previous week, Deovolente data showed. And citywide, three of the 10 best-selling projects cost more than 40,000 yuan per square meter.

Cities around the country have been struggling with ever-growing new home inventories, a result of abundant supply and continuously eased momentum among buyers since the beginning of this year. While first-tier cities like Shanghai and Beijing have been required to remain stringent on their housing curbs, more smaller cities have recently relaxed their tightening measures to boost property sales.

Suzhou, in neighboring Jiangsu Province, confirmed today there will be no restriction on any purchase of homes larger than 90 square meters for both local and non-local buyers, the latest in the country to conditionally lift the ban. For houses smaller than 90 square meters, the restriction will remain, according to the city's housing authority.

Business Real Estate

About Us
|
Terms of Use
|
RSS
|
Privacy Policy
|
Contact Us
|
Shanghai Call Center: 962288
|
Tip-off hotline: 52920043

沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
|
互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
|
网络视听许可证：0909346
|
广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
|
增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012

Home sales remain slow in city, but jump in luxury unit deals lifts average price

Email this to your friend