THE average new home price in Shenzhen reached record high of 26,691 yuan (US$4,305) per square meter in January, according to figures released by the city’s urban planning and land resources commission.

    The new home price increased by 22.7 percent over the same month last year and up 2.6 percent over the previous month, Chinese-language media reported yesterday. However, the transaction volume of new homes in January dropped 6 percent from December last year, marking the first decrease in six months.

    The Southern Metropolis Daily said, citing industry analysts, that the price hike was mainly because fewer housing estate projects were released for sale in the market.

    Many property developers slowed down their pace of releasing new projects as they were less pressured by their market performances at the beginning of a year. According to the Centaline Real Estate Agency, only seven new housing projects, with a total floor space of 382,000 square meters, were approved to be sold last month, down 47.6 percent from the previous month.

    Many developers also stopped offering discounts to homebuyers, some of them even raised the prices by up to 10 percent, the Daily said.

    New homes in the Vanke Ziyueshan Estate in December were sold at between 23,000 yuan and 26,000 yuan per square meter, but the prices for new homes in the same estate released in January rose to 30,000 yuan or more per square meter. The Daily said two housing projects in Longhua New Area, developed by Galaxy Group, were also priced at more than 30,000 yuan per square meter, bringing new home prices in the neighborhood up 20 percent compared to the previous month.

    In January, 7,288 new homes were sold, down 6 percent from the previous month. The transaction volume of pre-owned homes also reported the first drop in four months. The housing market is usually quiet before Spring Festival, according to Wang Fei, the research director of Centaline. He said the market is expected to become active and the prices of pre-owned homes are likely to continue rising slightly after the festival. (Wei Jie)