SLUGGISH buying momentum continued to dominate Shanghai's housing market during the first half of July.
Sales of new homes, excluding those designated for relocated residents under urban redevelopment plans, stood at around 126,000 square meters between July 1 and 14, a drop of 26 percent from the same period a month earlier, according to China Real Estate Information Corp (CRIC), a major real estate information, consulting and online services provider.
Buyers were still waiting for clearer signals from the government whether existing rein-in policies will be strictly implemented or further measures will be launched since home prices remained at high levels in the city despite slashed volumes.
Sales transactions of homes, both in the new and existing market, remained low in the first two weeks of this month as a wait-and-see sentiment prevailed, industry statistics showed.
Sales by unit, meanwhile, fell 21 percent to 1,163 units while by value, they plunged 31 percent to 2.49 billion yuan (US$367 million). In terms of price, new homes were sold at an average 19,754 yuan per square meter during the two-week period, a month-on-month decline of 6 percent, primarily due to the fact that most apartments sold were in the middle to low-end category, CRIC research found.
"Developers, most of which started launching price cuts in order to boost sales over the past few weeks, still felt somewhat reluctant to offer major discounts as it remains unclear whether the government would maintain its tough stance to cool down the market," said Lu Qilin, a researcher at Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co, which has tracked the city's new home market since 2006.
"That's why many developers, particularly those with high-end projects, preferred to postpone putting new homes on the market as it's still hard to predict how long the government-initiated 'crack-down' will last," Lu added.
The existing home market probably registered a similar plight.
"It's possible that 30 percent of our branches across the city will fail to sell even one home in July," said Song Huiyong, a research director with Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Ltd, operator of the city's largest real estate chain with more than 200 branches.