Price of Shanghai's luxury residential properties remained strong over the past one-and-a-half months although transaction volume plunged amid weak market sentiment caused by a state-level crackdown on speculation in China's overheated housing market, according to a latest industry research.

More than 90 percent of luxury homes maintained their prices or saw higher prices after the central government launched tightening measures on April 17, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Ltd, operator of the city's largest realty chain, said yesterday after monitoring sales before and after the policy.

"While some of the city's mass market housing developments, mostly in outlying areas, began to offer discounts to lure buyers, prices of the upscale and luxury sector continued to be stable," said Gong Min, a research manager with Centaline.

"On one hand buyers of luxury homes have stronger purchasing power than ordinary home buyers who are more vulnerable to mortgage and tax policies, while wealthy buyers in most cases view their properties as a symbol of status, and therefore few of them would make home purchases just for short-term speculation," he said.

According to its latest research, nearly 70 percent of luxury residential projects in the city have kept their prices over the past six weeks and more than 21 percent have seen increases of between 2 and 62 percent. Only 9 percent of them suffered a decline in prices during the post-policy period, according to the firm.

For example, an apartment at Lyceum Mansion on Maoming Road S. was sold at an average price of 115,800 yuan (US$16,954) per square meter four weeks after the launch of the central government policy. That compared to 71,200 yuan per square meter recorded on the same floor of the same building three weeks before the new policy.

Research by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co released yesterday found that sales of new homes costing more than 50,000 yuan per square meter fell to 22,509 square meters between May 1 and 30, down 68 percent from April. The average price of luxury homes rose nearly 7 percent to 71,341 yuan per square meter during the period.