SHANGHAI apartment sales jumped significantly last month due to robust supply and investors pursuing other options as they cashed out of the stock market, according to reports from real estate agencies.
Citywide, 21,848 new apartments, with a combined gross floor area of 2.656 million square meters, were sold in May, an increase of more than 30 percent in both categories, according to www.fangdi.com.cn, a leading property Website.
Transaction volume posted a new high in the last week of May, with 808,100 square meters of new apartment space sold, compared with a 300,000 square-meter weekly average in March and April.
The suburban districts of Songjiang and Baoshan were the most active because of ample supply.
In Songjiang, 114,183 square meters of new apartments were sold in the last week of May, topping all other districts. Baoshan, with seven residential projects generating weekly transaction volume exceeding 3,000 square meters, experienced the biggest increase: 40,190 square meters from a week earlier.
In terms of sales prices, downtown Luwan District continued to appreciate the most. Average housing prices soared 2,652 yuan (US$344) per square meter in the last week of May in the district, mainly due to the sales in the high-end Lakeville Regency project, which featured an average sales price of 49,972 yuan per square meter.
In the previously owned apartment market, downtown districts remained the most favored areas, with both transaction volume and prices increasing in Luwan, Huangpu and Jing'an districts.
Citywide transaction volume in the sector jumped some 30 percent in May from a month earlier, statistics provided by www.fangdi.com.cn showed.
Sales of used apartments were also brisk in the last week of May, according to Xu Wanke of Shanghai Hanyu Property Agency Ltd.
Combined second-hand apartment transactions in Luwan, Huangpu and Jing'an in the seven-day period accounted for about 40 percent of the monthly total, Xu said.
The Xintiandi area in Luwan District remained hot for previously owned apartments, accounting for 20 percent of the entire district, sources at Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Ltd said.
The three hottest-selling downtown districts also witnessed considerable price increases over the past month.
Apartments at One Park Avenue in Jing'an District, for example, sold for between 28,000 yuan and 29,000 yuan per square meter last month, compared with 25,000 yuan to 25,500 yuan in April, according to Hanyu Property.
Analysts said the high level of purchasing and higher prices could be tied to investors reentering the property sector after the recent volatility in the country's stock markets.