CONDOMINIUMS put up for sale in Tokyo and the surrounding area dropped for a seventh month in March as rising prices deterred buyers, swelling inventories, the Real Estate Economic Research Institute said yesterday.

The number of condominiums placed on the market fell 17.8 percent from a year earlier to 4,490, the lowest for March since 1993, according to statistics released by the Tokyo-based institute.

Inventories climbed to 10,837 units, the highest for that month since 1992. New apartments yet to be sold remained above 10,000 units for a fourth consecutive month.

A 16-percent increase in prices in the capital last year discouraged buyers as average wages fell the most in three years, Bloomberg News said. And new government building codes introduced in June may hamper a sales recovery.

"We are likely to see the impact of changes to building approval codes after March or April," said Akio Fukuda, a manager at the institute. "Prices gained to a high level compared with the past few years. It's hard to see a recovery in the condo market."

The percentage of pre-sold apartments rose to 65 percent in March from a year earlier, compared with 60 percent in February.

The rate has stayed below 70 percent, the level at which developers are profitable, since August, according to the institute.

The average price per unit for the region gained 6.2 percent to 49.98 million yen (US$494,000) from a year earlier, while that for Tokyo's 23 wards rose 5 percent to 63.49 million yen, according to experts at the institute.