Shanghai new home sales halved in Jan-July: report

Copyright AFP, 2010 | Aug 23, 2010

Shanghai new home sales halved in Jan-July: report

Sales of new homes in Shanghai dropped 48 percent in the first seven months of 2010 from a year earlier, as China's efforts to cool the property market began to bite, state media said Monday.

By the end of July sales in terms of floor space totalled 9.11 million square metres (98.1 million square feet), the Shanghai Daily reported, citing the city's statistics bureau.

It did not provide comparative figures for 2009.Chinese authorities have issued a slew of measures in recent months as they seek to prevent the property market overheating and causing a bubble that could derail the country's economy.

The government has tightened restrictions nationwide on advance sales of new developments, introduced curbs on loans for third home purchases and raised minimum down-payments for second homes.

The property price index for July was 10.3 percent higher than a year earlier, down from a record rise of 12.8 percent in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said earlier this month.

Prices in Beijing remained flat month-on-month in July, while they dipped 0.6 percent in Shanghai and 0.4 percent in the southern city of Shenzhen, on the border with Hong Kong.

At the weekend, vice premier Li Keqiang urged local governments to implement the central government's policies to curb speculation in the real estate sector and increase the supply of affordable housing, the Xinhua news agency reported.

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