Sales of existing properties in Shanghai more than tripled in March as buyer momentum recovered, and average prices continued to rise.

About 17,500 existing properties, mainly houses, were sold across the city last month, an increase of 253 percent from February, according to research findings released yesterday by Century 21 China Real Estate.

Average prices rose 6.2 percent month on month to 16,200 yuan (US$2,371) per square meter. In February, they rose above the 15,000 yuan barrier for the first time.

"The return of end-users, both first-time buyers and those with upgrading purposes, particularly since the second half, helped boost the local property market to a normal level," said Huang Hetao, a Century 21 researcher. "We expect the rally to continue over the coming two months in both volume and price."

Across the city, two or three-bedroom apartments costing around 3 million yuan were the most popular with buyers intending to upgrade, though many of those homes had already registered a price increase of between 5 to 10 percent since mid February, the firm said.

Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Ltd also reported a rise in sales of existing homes - up 300 percent last month from February.

The Pudong New Area and Baoshan and Putuo districts led in transaction volume, taking 26 percent, 18 percent and 9 percent of the city's total by units, Centaline said.

Meanwhile, Shanghai's monthly existing housing index, which tracks prices of homes in the city, extended its strength in March, adding 0.81 percent to 2,561 amid recovering demand from end-users.

Of the city's 68 areas monitored, 56 recorded price gains, increasing 1.2 percent on average from a month earlier.