An inadequate supply of new homes and a changing industry outlook jointly weakened buyers’ sentiment in Shanghai last month, market data showed yesterday.

The area of new homes sold, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, fell 6.7 percent month on month to 363,000 square meters in February, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a report.

The volume, a 49.1 percent plunge from the same month a year ago, was also the lowest February data recorded in six years, according to Centaline.

“The low transaction volume was no surprise since the first two months of a year usually register sluggish performance mainly because of the Spring Festival holiday,” said Lu Wenxi, senior researcher at Centaline.

“However, a shortage in supply and, more importantly, a continuously changing outlook of the market rather than pure seasonal reasons sidelined more home seekers this year.”

Around 286,000 square meters of new houses were released locally last month, down 23 percent from January. Market watchers attributed the drop to stricter pre-sale approval and weak sentiment among real estate developers.

Meanwhile, new homes sold for an average 47,201 yuan (US$6,862) per square meter last month, little changed from January.

A high-end project in Sanlin in the Pudong New Area sold 147 units for an average 87,000 yuan per square meter, according to Centaline data.