Fewer new residential projects in Shanghai will offer price cuts in October, with most developers prepared to give discounts of up to 10 percent, according to latest market researches.

A total of 147 new housing projects, of which more than 80 percent are located beyond the city's Outer Ring Road, will offer price cuts next month, against 157 developments in September, the country's major real estate website Soufun.com said yesterday.

"There is heated competition among projects in outlying areas where three-fourths of the city's entire new home supply is located and that helps explain why developers are so keen to offer promotions," said Qu Peng, a Soufun analyst. "In contrast, we've noticed that some residential developments between the Inner and Middle Ring Roads have recently stopped their promotional campaigns as demand from buyers has shrunk."

Citywide, Pudong New Area led other areas with 34 projects offering discounts, a drop of five projects from September. Jiading District was next with 15 developments, a monthly fall of four, according to Soufun data.

Century 21 China Real Estate did a price reduction survey which tracked 208 residential projects that registered sales in June and the first 20 days in September.

The firm found that only 109 projects, or 52 percent of the total, saw average sales price fall. Among them, 68 developments reported a price cut of less than 5 percent while 23 developments posted a drop of between 5 and 10 percent.