Sales of second-hand homes were stable in Shanghai last month, with six districts and Chongming County registering double-digit month-on-month growth.
A total of 13,400 units, mainly houses, were sold across the city last month, up 1.9 percent from June, Century 21 China Real Estate, operator of the city's largest estate chain in terms of outlets, said yesterday.
Huang Hetao, a researcher at Century 21, said sales volume had declined since March.
"The central government's latest series of tightening measures since late January seem to have been quite effective in curbing demand from buyers. Demand would have been robust otherwise," he said.
Activity was the greatest in Chongming County, with a monthly sales increase of 24 percent, followed by Jinshan and Putuo districts, with rises of 16 percent and 15 percent, respectively. The districts of Jing'an and Jiading were the two biggest losers, suffering a retreat of 25 percent and 19 percent respectively.
In price terms, existing properties were traded for an average 15,500 yuan (US$2,406) per square meter, a slight gain of 1.5 percent from a month earlier.
The Shanghai Existing House Index Office, which monitors the price fluctuations of existing homes, said about half the 128 areas it tracks recorded either minor price growth or stayed unchanged from a month ago. The decrease registered by the other half was insignificant.
Chen Yujue, vice general manager of Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants, said: "The current stalemate in the existing housing market, coupled with increasing supply of new houses in the second half, should motivate more home owners to offer price cuts. Probably, discounts will first be found in outlying areas, where new home supply remains sufficient."
