Strong buying sentiment lifted sales of new homes in Shanghai by over 20 percent to more than 300,000 square meters last week amid ample supply, according to latest market data.

The area of new homes sold, excluding government-funded affordable housing, surged 20.6 percent to 328,000 square meters during the seven-day period ended on Sunday, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a report released yesterday.

The new homes were sold for an average 36,092 yuan (US$5,427) per square meter, a week-on-week increase of 1.4 percent.

“Fueled by abundant supply, the market performed quite actively last week with housing projects costing around 30,000 yuan per square meter being the most popular among buyers,” said Lu Wenxi, a senior manager of research at Centaline.

“The market is expected to rise for another week or two as developers prepare for their mid-year results.”

Jiading District led with weekly transactions of 53,000 square meters, up 60 percent from the previous week. Qingpu and Fengxian districts followed with over 40,000 square meters of new homes sold in each district, Centaline data showed.

A housing project in Jiading was the most popular after 65 units were sold for 25,791 yuan per square meter each during the past week. Half of the 10 best-selling projects were priced between 30,000 yuan and 33,000 yuan per square meter, Centaline data showed.

The city’s new home supply remained around 250,000 square meters, a week-on-week drop of 16.9 percent.

(Source: ShanghaiDaily  Author: Cherry Cao)