SALES of new homes in Shanghai rebounded last week as buying sentiment took off following the end of the Lunar New Year holiday.

A total of 26,300 square meters of new homes, excluding government-funded affordable housing, were sold during the seven days ended on Sunday, a surge from 4,400 square meters registered a week earlier, according to data released yesterday by Shanghai Deovolente Realty Co.

The average price jumped 29.4 percent from a week earlier to 20,896 yuan (US$3,311) per square meter while the new supply more than doubled to 17,100 square meters, according to the data.

But Lu Qilin, a Deovolente researcher, said that the overall buying sentiment in the local market continued to be sluggish despite a rebound from the record-low volume seen a week earlier due to the Spring Festival.

He also said real estate developers remained reluctant to launch their projects.

Last year, an average 140,000 square meters of new homes were sold in Shanghai every week while their weekly supply stood at 204,700 square meters on average, according to the data.

A total of 22 new residential projects, comprising 15 apartment developments and seven villa projects, are set to be released to the local market for sale this month, compared with just three in January, said a latest report released by real estate website Soufun.com.