The supply of land designated for new residential development, excluding plots for the affordable housing program, plunged significantly in Shanghai last year, real estate website Soufun.com said yesterday.

A total of 54 land plots, or 3.84 million square meters, were released to the local market in 2010, compared with 79 plots, or 5.47 million square meters in 2009, Soufun research showed. By area, Jiading, Qingpu and Baoshan registered the most supply, where 11, eight and six plots were released respectively during the past 12 months.

The decline was mainly due to the city's effort to increase land for affordable housing, Soufun analysts said. Land released for development of affordable housing totaled 65 plots, or 4.58 million square meters, in the city last year.

Under a plan announced earlier, construction of 15 million square meters of affordable homes will begin this year, up 25 percent from 2010.