The number of new apartments on sale in Shanghai's Inner Ring
Area shrank to 3,844 units as of yesterday, raising concern that
already skyrocketing housing prices may climb even higher.
A total of 18,837 new apartments were sold in the Inner Ring
Area, which is 2.5 million square meters, this year as of
yesterday, Shanghai Morning Post reported today.
Huangpu District had 177 new apartments left for sale as of
yesterday while the number in Luwan District slumped to only 27
units, the report said.
The declining supply of new homes downtown was a result of fewer
property projects approved in the area where the supply of new land
for residential purposes has become scarce, the report said.
Some developers also began to reserve properties to drive up
prices as the year draws to an end, the report explained.
Average housing prices in Shanghai rose 7.9 percent in October
from a year earlier, outpacing September's growth rate by two
percentage points, the National Development and Reform Commission
said on its Website on November 14.
(Shanghai Daily November 28, 2007)
