Shanghai's new housing market continued to suffer sluggish sales as wait-and-see sentiment among buyers extended for another week.

The area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, plunged 46.7 percent to 93,000 square meters during the seven-day period ended on Sunday, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a report released today.

"Shanghai's residential property market was off to a cold start with projects targeting budget-tight first-time buyers in suburban areas remaining most attractive to the majority of buyers," said Lu Wenxi, senior manager of research at Centaline. "With the lunar New Year holiday to start in less than three weeks, we are not likely to see a meaningful rebound in momentum among both developers and buyers."

Average cost of new homes climbed a moderate 5.6 percent week over week to 40,508 yuan (US$5,825) per square meter, due to minor structural shift.

Citywide, an apartment project in Nanhui, Pudong New Area, or the most sought-after development of the week, managed to sell 96 units only, clear evidence for weakness in the market.

Two out of the 10 most popular projects cost more than 50,000 yuan per square meter, according to Centaline data.

On the supply side, about 96,000 square meters of new houses were released to the local market, a week-on-week drop of 46.7 percent, Centaline data showed.