THE average price of new homes fell below the 20,000 yuan (US$3,174) per square meter level in Shanghai in February, the first time in 19 months, according to the latest market data.

The new homes, excluding government-funded affordable housing, were sold at an average 19,831 yuan a square meter last month, a drop of 12 percent from January, according to a report released yesterday by Shanghai Deovolente Realty Co.

"It's the first time since July 2010 that the average price of new homes fell below the threshold," said Lu Qilin, a researcher at Deovolente. "The drop was mainly due to a decline in transactions involving mid to high-end houses in the city over the past month."

The new homes priced under 20,000 yuan per square meter accounted for more than 67 percent of the total sales registered last month, compared with a 60 percent proportion seen for the entire 2011, Deovolente data found.

Meanwhile, the new homes costing more than 30,000 yuan per square meter took up 13 percent of the total transactions in February, down from nearly 18 percent recorded last year.

Fueled by the robust sales of low to mid-end homes, the monthly transaction of new homes in the city surged nearly 90 percent from January to 403,000 square meters in February, with Baoshan District in the north taking nearly 25 percent of the total.

"New home transaction in 14 out of the city's 17 districts/counties recorded month-on-month growth in February," said Tang Zhengwei, an analyst at Soufun.com, operator of the country's largest real estate website.