SHANGHAI'S market for new homes recorded very low sentiment among both buyers and sellers for the second week.

Sales of new homes, excluding government-funded affordable housing, fell 19.6 percent from a week earlier to 69,300 square meters during the week ending Sunday, standing below the 100,000-square-meter barrier for the second consecutive week, according to research released yesterday by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co.

Average price, however, rose 19.2 percent from a week earlier to 23,320 yuan (US$3,684) per square meter, boosted mainly by robust sales at a luxury development in Pudong New Area.

"Wait-and-see sentiment prevailed in the city's new housing market during the first two weeks of this month with both sales and supply falling to super low levels," said Huang Zhijian, chief analyst at Uwin. "We expect that buying sentiment will not likely pick up until March."

Between January 1 and 15, new home sales totaled only 160,400 square meters in Shanghai, a year-on-year plunge of nearly 70 percent, Uwin data showed.

In terms of supply, meanwhile, new houses totaling 24,400 square meters were released to the local market last week, a rise of 56.4 percent from the previous seven-day period when local supply hit an 11-month low, according to Uwin.

Strong sales recorded in the luxury sector, costing more than 50,000 yuan per square meter, helped pushed up the city's average price in the weekly numbers, which can be volatile.

A total of 30 units within that price category were sold last week, an increase of 36.4 percent from a week earlier. In particular, 19 spacious units at Star River, a project in Pudong's Huamu area changed hands, ranking it the city's best-selling residential project for the week.