SALES of new homes in Shanghai fell last week partly due to the Labor Day holiday while the average price was little changed.

The purchases of new homes, excluding government-funded affordable housing, dropped 29.2 percent to 168,300 square meters during the seven-day period ended Sunday, according to a report released yesterday by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co.

The average cost the new homes shed 1 percent from the previous week to 23,274 yuan (US$3,742) per square meter.

"While the holiday was one of the reasons behind the decline, the rather significant drop also signaled a further cooling of the local market after an extremely hectic March," said Huang Zhijian, chief analyst at Uwin.

Over 276,000 square meters of new houses were released locally last week, up 68.2 percent from the previous seven-day period, according to Uwin data.