New home purchases in Shanghai soared to their highest level in 17 months in June amid robust sales of mid to high-end properties, according to the latest market research.

Sales of new homes, excluding government-funded affordable housing, rose 26.6 percent from May to 1.02 million square meters last month, the highest since February 2011, a Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co report said.

New homes were selling at an average of 24,070 yuan (US$3,808) per square meter, up 7.2 percent compared to May.

"The monthly volume was rather unexpected, mainly driven by notable improvement in the mid to high-end segments," said Huang Zhijian, chief analyst at Uwin. "The secret to booming sales remained unchanged as developers trimmed profits to trigger buyers' sentiment and the strategy just worked as usual."

More than 400,000 square meters of new residential properties costing between 20,000 yuan and 40,000 yuan a square meter were sold last month in the city, a surge of 53 percent from May, whereas those costing more than 40,000 yuan per square meter also jumped 46 percent to nearly 100,000 square meters. In contrast, new houses asking for under 20,000 yuan per square meter only gained 9.2 percent to 519,000 square meters during the same period, the report said.

A China Overseas Property development near Changfeng Park in Putuo District became the city's bestseller last month, with 199 apartments selling at an average 38,135 yuan per square meter. In the luxury segment, a Greenland project in Longhua, Xuhui District, sold 72 units in June for a discounted price of 63,970 yuan per square meter.

About 905,900 square meters of new residential properties were released to the local market in May, a rise of 13.5 percent from May, Uwin data showed.