Shanghai's property market recovery, previously driven by low-priced older small homes, is now gradually being taken over by demand for improved housing.
Following the traditional peak seasons of March and April, activity in Shanghai's second-hand housing market has not diminished.
According to data from the "Online Real Estate" platform, in May 2026, Shanghai's second-hand home transactions via online signing reached 28,023 units (full-caliber data, including commercial properties and parking spaces), representing a year-on-year increase of approximately 31%.
This transaction volume not only set a new high for the month of May over the past six years but, even within a ten-year span, is second only to the level of about 30,500 units recorded in May 2020.
Since the beginning of this year, Shanghai's second-hand housing market has remained consistently active. March saw 31,200 transactions, April had 28,700, and despite the impact of the May Day holiday, May still exceeded 28,000 transactions, maintaining a level above 28,000 units for three consecutive months.
Excluding seasonal distortions from the Spring Festival, Shanghai's monthly online signing volume for second-hand homes has remained above the critical threshold of 20,000 units for six consecutive months, indicating strong underlying demand resilience.
Corresponding to the sustained high transaction volume, market inventory is continuously contracting.
According to Anjuke Shanghai statistics, as of May 31, 2026, the number of second-hand home listings in Shanghai was approximately 309,200, compared to 379,700 in the same period last year, a reduction of over 70,000 listings in one year.
Since the same property is often listed multiple times by different agencies, the industry typically estimates the actual number of unique properties for sale by applying a reduction factor of about one-third. Based on this estimate, the actual number of second-hand homes for sale in Shanghai was about 126,000 units last year, which has now decreased to approximately 103,000 units, a reduction of about 18%.
Simultaneously, as of the end of May, the number of listings publicly displayed on the Lianjia Shanghai platform was about 78,800 units, a decrease of over 30,000 units from the peak listing period, reaching the lowest level in nearly three years.
The combined effect of active transactions and reduced listings is gradually improving the market's supply-demand dynamics.
Changes in transactions and inventory are also beginning to be reflected in housing prices.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that from February to April of this year, the month-on-month sales prices of second-hand residential properties in Shanghai increased by 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.7% respectively, with the growth rate expanding consecutively, indicating strengthening market recovery momentum.
More notably, the transaction structure of the market is undergoing changes.
Research from Guojin Securities shows that in April, the transaction share of properties priced below 3 million yuan in Shanghai's second-hand market decreased to 59% from 61% in March; the share of properties priced between 3 million and 5 million yuan increased to 22%; while the share of improved-type properties priced above 5 million yuan rose from 16.6% to 17.9%.
Over the past six months, the recovery of Shanghai's property market was primarily driven by low-priced older small homes, but now demand for improved housing is showing an upward trend.
Price performance corroborates this trend. Prices for micro-sized homes under 50 square meters in Shanghai stopped declining as early as November 2025; small-sized homes between 50 and 90 square meters stabilized and began to rise in January 2026; after entering May this year, medium-to-large sized homes between 144 and 180 square meters and large-sized homes between 180 and 250 square meters have also successively shown signs of price stabilization.
With the release of improved housing demand, properties across different size segments are gradually achieving a relay-style recovery, and the replacement chain within the second-hand market is showing a trend of upward mobility.
Guojin Securities believes that stabilized demand, declining listing volumes, stabilizing rental yields, and continuous policy optimization collectively position Shanghai as one of the core cities leading the recovery in this round of the real estate market. Particularly with the support of policies like the "Shanghai Seven Measures," market expectations continue to improve, and the expansion of purchase-for-storage policies to cover central urban areas provides additional support for the low-priced housing segment.
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