Pre-owned home sales rise 50% in 2012

TRANSACTION volume in Shanghai's pre-owned home market surged nearly 50 percent last year from 2011, while the average price hit a record.

A total of 188,240 units of previously-owned homes changed hands across the city in 2012, up from 129,510 units sold in 2011, Shanghai Deovolente Realty Co said yesterday in a report.

The average cost of the homes climbed 3.6 percent from 2011 to 17,033 yuan (US$2,703) per square meter, an all-time record registered in the city.

"The significant pickup in the city's existing home market was caused by a number of reasons which include an ever-growing inventory of existing homes as well as steadily improving buying sentiment among home seekers particularly in the second half," said Lu Qilin, a researcher at Deovolente.

He pointed out that while the average price hit an all-time high in 2012, "the annual growth rate was very mild compared to that of 2009 and 2010 when the price rose annually by more than 20 percent." He attributed the mild rise to the effective tightening measures to curb speculation.

Pudong New Area, which saw transactions of 3.65 million square meters of previously-owned homes, or nearly one fourth of the city's total, remained the most vibrant, Deovolente data showed.

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