Robust sales of a luxury residential project in Pudong's Lujiazui area have helped push Shanghai's average weekly home price to above 22,000 yuan (US$3,221) per square meter for the first time.

The price of new homes, excluding those designated for relocated residents under urban redevelopment plans, soared to a record 22,270 yuan per square meter on average in Shanghai last week.

This was the highest since the city started to track its home prices, Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co said yesterday.

Transaction volume rose 11 percent to 327,300 square meters, while supply jumped 15 percent to 341,700 square meters during the seven-day period amid continuously strong buyer sentiment.

"A total of 32 units at Ocean One in Lujiazui were sold last week at an average price of 104,694 yuan per square meter and that helped raise the weekly average a lot," said Lu Qilin, a researcher at Uwin.

"Our research has found that more than half of the city's top 10 best-selling residential projects over the past week were sold at around or above 20,000 yuan per square meter and that also contributed to the price surge.''

Developed by the real estate arm of COFCO, the country's leading food manufacturer, Ocean One is on Yincheng Road M., just a stone's throw from Tomson Riviera, the city's most expensive apartment project.

The most costly unit at Tomson Riviera was sold for more than 160,000 yuan per square meter.

Consisting of five blocks, Ocean One launched one of its buildings for sale late last month at an average price of 115,000 yuan per square meter.

As of yesterday, 58 units out of the total of 67 apartments have already secured buyers at an average price of 108,981 yuan per square meter, according to the city's official real estate Website, www.fangdi.com.

Property prices around the country have been soaring since the second quarter of this year amid robust demand from both end users and investors, reducing buyer accessibility and raising worries over asset price bubbles.

Housing prices in 70 major Chinese cities jumped 5.7 percent in November from a year earlier, the most in 16 months, the National Bureau of Statistics said last week.

In Shanghai, property prices rose 5.5 percent last month from a year earlier and gained 1.1 percent month on month, according to the bureau.

In its latest attempt to curb speculation, the State Council, the nation's Cabinet, announced last week that people who sell homes less than five years after purchase must again pay a 5.55 percent business tax starting next year.

Individuals are now exempt from the tax if they sell two years after purchase.