Shanghai's housing market has declined in both volume and price over the past month, the latest property figures reveal.

As of Wednesday, the transaction volume for new commodity housing reached 698,600 square meters in the city, down 33 percent from June. It is down some 67 percent compared to July 2007, according to statistics released yesterday by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co.

The average transaction price for new commodity housing slumped to 12,824 yuan (US$1,877) a square meter during the period, a decrease of 24.5 percent compared to 16,988 yuan a square meter in June.

"Though supply remained almost the same compared to June, nearly 1.3 million square meters, the local market has been hit by an increasingly prevalent 'wait-and-see' sentiment among home buyers over the past month," said Xue Jianxiong, head of research at Shanghai Uwin. "As well, a growing number of deals for low-end residential projects in suburban areas dragged the average price down."

Data compiled by Uwin showed that the top four best-selling commodity housing projects (in terms of gross floor area, or GFA) in July were located in Baoshan, Fengxian, Songjiang and Qingpu, with average transaction prices all below 8,000 yuan a square meter, with the cheapest only 7,058 yuan.

And in the top 10 list, seven were sold with an average price of less than 9,000 yuan a square meter.

Industry experts said the comparatively good performance of some low-end projects in suburban areas in July was due to a short supply in those areas over the past few months and was anything but a sign of recovery.

"For August, the transaction volume might remain small or even dip further," said Cai Weiming, a real estate expert. "In the short term I expect the average price to retreat about 20 to 25 percent."

"However, after the correction, the market may regain its strength, boosted by the fast-growing economy,'' he said.

(Shanghai Daily August 1, 2008)