The average cost of a new home in Shanghai remained above 23,000 yuan (US$3,662) per square meter for the third straight week despite a drop in sales volume.

The purchases of new homes, excluding government-funded affordable housing, fell 12.4 percent week on week to 216,300 square meters over seven days ended on Sunday, Shanghai Deovolente Realty Co said yesterday.

The average price shed 4.2 percent to 24,416 yuan per square meter, Deovolente said.

"Though waning sentiment continued to prevail among both real estate developers and home seekers as the Spring Festival approaches, demand for high-end homes still remained comparatively strong, allowing the average price to stay at rather high for another week," said Lu Qilin, a Deovolente researcher. "For the post-festival period, we expect home sales to climb amid a recovery in supply."

The city's top five best-selling projects last week all cost over 28,000 yuan per square meter, Deovolente data showed.

About 35,200 square meters of new homes were released locally last week, a rebound from the previous seven-day period but still below the weekly average of 175,000 square meters seen over the past 12 months, a research released yesterday by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co showed.