NEW home sales in Shanghai rebounded last week for the second week but experts predicted that a sustained momentum may not take place as the government's tough property measures would remain.

The sales of new homes, excluding government-funded affordable housing, soared 150 percent weekly to 65,700 square meters during the seven-day period which ended Sunday, according to a report released yesterday by Shanghai Deovolente Realty Co. They were sold for an average 20,463 yuan (US$3,253) per square meter, a drop of 2.1 percent from a week earlier.

"This was mainly a seasonal rebound while an overall recovery in buying momentum still seems pretty far (off) as austerity measures remain strictly in place and supply still outnumbers demand," said Lu Qilin, a researcher at Deovolente. "A wait-and-see sentiment continues to dominate the local market with more buyers anticipating bigger price cuts."

The housing projects offering notable discounts continued to enjoy higher sales.

A residential project in Dahua area in outlying Baoshan District was the city's best-seller last week after prices were cut by 20 percent to an average 18,741 yuan per square meter. It sold 23 units, with an average size of 120 square meters, according to data released by Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Ltd. Song Huiyong, a research director at Centaline, said: "A boost to sales may occur in the coming months if more developers decide to cut prices as the central government continues to crack down on housing speculation."

Last week saw a 124 percent weekly jump in supply with the release of 38,300 square meters of new units at three projects, according to Deovolente data.