[photopress:shanghailuuxury.jpg,full,alignright]According to government statistics Shanghai has continued to be the only one of 70 major Chinese cities sampled to experience a decline in home prices in the third quarter of this year.
The average price of houses in that period rose 5.5 per cent from the same period of last year. Shenzhen’s prices rose 12.8 per cent, the fastest in the country, followed by Beijing and Dalian. However, prices in Shanghai went down 2.8 per cent in the second quarter and 1.1 per cent in the third.
Property experts attributed the price drop to the huge increase in the number of low-cost houses in the suburbs.
The monthly average number of sales in July and August was 14,532 units with 1,254 sold within the inner ring road area, a 20 per cent and 39 per cent decrease respectively, compared with the monthly sales rate in the second quarter.
A total of 171 units priced at more than 20,000 yuan per square metre were sold, only 34 per cent of the average monthly level in the previous quarter.
The third quarter market review of CB Richard Ellis, a world leading property consultant, said, ‘The shrinkage in transaction volume is clearly indicative of the wait-and-see atmosphere that currently prevails in the market.’
According to the statistics provided by the Shanghai Housing, Land and Resource Administration Bureau the total stock of unsold new housing in Shanghai reached 16.21 million square meters by the end of last month, with 77 per cent of high-end houses not affordable for ordinary citizens.
Source: China Daily