NEW home sales plunged by nearly half in Shanghai during the first 10 months of this year as a result of government tightening policies, the local statistics authority said yesterday.
More than 13.51 million square meters of new houses were sold across the city between January and October, a year-on-year decline of 45.6 percent, according to a statement posted on the Shanghai Statistics Bureau's website.
The figures exclude homes built for relocated residents under urban redevelopment plans.
The drop compared with a decrease of 44 percent in the first three quarters, government statistics showed.
New homes completed during the 10-month period, meanwhile, also dropped 23.8 percent to 7.9 million square meters, according to the statement.
"New home sales have declined for five consecutive weeks in Shanghai after sentiment among buyers, which just started to rebound in August, turned sluggish again after the introduction of a second round of rein-in measures in early October," said Lu Qilin, a researcher at Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co.
"Most would-be home buyers, particularly those buying for their own use, are now waiting."
New home sales fell 9 percent to 159,000 square meters last week, according to Uwin statistics.
The government in late September unveiled a new set of policies to further tighten mortgage lending.
Banks nationwide have been ordered to stop providing loans to buyers of third or more homes while individuals buying their first houses have been required to plunk down at least 30 percent of the total price, instead of the previous 20 percent.
Shanghai also joined Beijing in capping the number of homes a family can purchase. A family is now entitled to buy only one home in the city "for a certain period of time."
Under the public housing program, the Shanghai Provident Fund Management Center stopped extending loans to second-home buyers if the floor area of their first home divided by the number of occupants is larger than the local average of 34 square meters per family member.