Shanghai to increase supply of small homes to cool market

[BEIJING] Local authorities in Shanghai issued new rules to increase the supply of medium and small-sized apartments after the recent surge in home prices in the city, official media reported on Tuesday.

The financial centre would ensure the land supply for homes smaller than 100 square meters accounts for at least 70 per cent of total land supply in downtown areas while the ratio was lowered to 60 per cent for suburb areas, the Xinhua news agency quoted Shanghai Land Bureau as saying.

The move would make Shanghai the first Chinese city to take measures to cool the overheating housing market in big cities.

Shanghai's home prices surged 15.5 per cent in Dec 2015 from the same period a year ago, official data showed, marking the second highest gains in the country.

The developer Shui On Land said on Monday all units of its newly-launched resident project in Shanghai were sold on the day of launch at an average selling price of 80,000 yuan (S$17,217) per square metre.

Helped by a slew of government measures, China's housing market stabilised last year with tier one cities, which include Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, leading the recovery.

Still, the recovery remains uneven across the country as small cities still face huge inventories of unsold homes, discouraging new investment and construction.

REUTERS