Home prices in more than half of the monitored areas in Shanghai fell in the second half of this year compared to the previous six-month period, the latest industry survey showed.

Of the 139 areas tracked by E-House (China) Holdings Ltd, 51.1 percent witnessed drops, according to the largest integrated real estate service provider in China.

"More than 24 percent of the residential areas tracked by our system recorded a more-than-10-percent setback in prices during the second half," said Xue Jianxiong, an analyst with E-House. "And more are expected to move southward over the next few months as they are just overvalued."

Xue said January and February could be very hard times for real estate developers as transaction volumes may contract sharply.

While most price drops are found in residential projects in remote areas of the city with poor infrastructure and commercial facilities, some downtown apartments have also been hit hard, E-House said.

For instance, a project in the North Bund area, which was launched in mid-May with an asking price of between 50,000 yuan (US$7318)to 90,000 yuan a square meter, was sold at an average 35,242 yuan a square meter in the second half, a drop of nearly 36 percent from the average price of 54,974 yuan a square meter recorded in May and June.

And the average sale price at Brilliant City, one of the city's largest residential community near Suzhou Creek in Putuo District, tumbled to 14,845 yuan a square meter, nearly 28 percent down from the average 20,587 yuan a square meter achieved in the first six months of this year.

Chenqiao in Chongming County, Zhangjiang High-tech Park in Pudong, Liangcheng in Hongkou District as well as Nanqiao in Fengxian District were all among the major losers in the E-House year-end survey.

However, bucking an overall low sentiment in the real estate market, price increases have still been found in some parts of the city.

E-House results have found apartments in Fengjing Town in Jinshan District, Lingang New City near the Pudong airport as well as Sichuan Road N. had big jumps during the second half, with prices increasing 39.7 percent, 34 percent and 30.1 percent, respectively.

(Shanghai Daily December 26, 2008)