Sales of new homes soared nearly 70 percent to 8.73 million square meters in Shanghai during the first half of this year amid a notable rebound in demand from individual buyers as well as some investors.

The six-month volume, excluding those designated for relocated residents under urban redevelopment plans, was very close to the 8.92 million square meters sold in the city during the whole of last year, according to research released yesterday by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co.

"The local residential market has been picking up its strength since February, and the strong sentiment has continued through," said Lu Qilin, a researcher at Uwin.

"A release of pent-up demand after price cuts by real estate developers first triggered the market after the Spring Festival while, later on, robust demand from relocated residents coupled with investment needs from buyers to fight against possible inflation also helped provide a solid boost."

The local housing market will likely remain steady over the coming six months with average monthly volume hovering about 1.5 million square meters, Lu predicted.

Between January and June, new homes were sold at an average price of 13,932 yuan (US$2,039) per square meter, compared with 14,244 yuan per square meter a year earlier, Uwin statistics showed. However, it was still higher than the average 13,189 yuan per square meter during the second half of last year.

Across the city, Dahua Group, Yanlord Group and China Vanke's Shanghai branch became the top three real estate developers in terms of new home sales, with each selling 4.75 billion yuan, 4.71 billion yuan and 3.59 billion yuan of new properties during the first six months.

Meanwhile, Yanlord Town in Pudong, Urban Cradle in Minhang and Shanghai Westwood in Zhabei were the best-selling projects in the first half, selling some 129,100 square meters, 121,400 square meters and 112,100 square meters respectively.

Last month alone, some 2.05 million square meters of new houses were sold. Average prices rose 11.8 percent month-on-month to 15,525 yuan per square meter, the highest since June last year.

(Shanghai Daily July 2, 2009)