The fast recovery in buying sentiment boosted the purchases of new homes in Shanghai last week, but home supply remained sluggish which may hinder buying in the short term.

The sales of new homes, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, rose to 164,400 square meters week on week over seven days ended on Sunday, Shanghai Deovolente Realty Co said yesterday. The previous week saw 23,500 square meters bought.

The average price, meanwhile, climbed 3.9 percent to 23,293 yuan (US$3,709) per square meter after robust sales of luxury and high-end houses, Deovolente said.

"Despite the recovery, new home supply still remained very sluggish in Shanghai and didn't pick up as quickly as we expected," said Lu Qilin, a Deovolente researcher. "That would definitely damp home purchases in the coming few weeks."

As of Sunday, only 109,000 square meters of new homes were released locally this month, with 66,700 square meters unveiled last week, Deovolente data showed. That compared to the average weekly supply of 172,800 square meters during the past 12 months.

New home sales this month may hover around 500,000 square meters, about half of the volume sold in January, a research released yesterday by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co showed.