FEWER residential projects may be released in Shanghai in December as more real estate developers prefer to sit on the sideline with the approach of the year-end.

Altogether 29 new developments - 22 apartment projects and seven villa developments - are due to be launched for sale across the city in December, a monthly drop of 34 percent and a plunge of 55 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to a latest report released by major real estate website Soufun.com.

About half of them, or 14 projects, will hit the market for the first time, Soufun data showed.

"For developers who want to make a final rush for a better yearly performance, it could be a bit late to launch projects next month," said Tang Zhengwei, a Soufun analyst. "Some builders simply prefer to 'wait-and-see' now as they seek clearer signals to (help them) decide their future marketing and pricing strategies."

Amid the overall weak buying sentiment, housing projects that offered significant discounts sold well, the data showed.

Last week, Coastal Palace, a China Overseas Property development in Pudong New Area's Zhoukang area became the city's most sought-after project when it sold 174 apartments at an average price of under 18,000 yuan (US$2,835) per square meter, against its previous high of 22,000 yuan per square meter, according to Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co.

China Vanke Co, the country's largest publicly traded developer, sold 77 units at one of its residential developments in outlying Qingpu District for an average price of below 12,000 yuan per square meter. The units in the project were previously sold at more than 15,000 yuan per square meter on average, according to the city's official real estate website.

"At the moment, only a very small proportion of Chinese builders chose to offer huge discounts to trigger sales, and the majority of their peers still remain very cautious about following suit," Tang said.