SHANGHAI'S housing market has markedly cooled down with fewer new homes registered over the past weeks as well as a decline in the number of projects offering discounts.

As of Thursday, some 610,000 square meters of new residential properties, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, had been released across the city in April, a drop of 32 percent from March, Shanghai Deovolente Realty Co said yesterday.

"We've noticed an apparent slowdown in new home supply recently as real estate developers seem to be more inclined to offer fewer houses for sale in a single batch," said Lu Qilin, a Deovolente researcher. "Meanwhile, price increases, though mostly mild ones, have become more prevalent these days."

A separate research released by Soufun.com, operator of the country's largest real estate website, also indicated developers are now less eager to boost sales.

The number of residential projects providing discounts - consisting of both apartment and villa developments - is set to fall further from April's 165 to 156 in May, the third straight month-on-month drop, Soufun data showed.