The Shanghai Real Estate Index Office reported the 27th increase in a row, according to its statistics measure, combining prices and sales volume.

The index described January's 1.3 percent advance over the previous month, a good start for 2003. The index rose 16 percent last year.

The index for local office space is 0.9 percent higher.

The residential figure was based on prices paid and sales volume at 168 housing projects with a total area of 11.04 million square meters.

Some newly opened projects drove the index up, the report said. Prices of many new projects climbed 10 to 20 percent in the month.

"A sellers' market has come into being," He added.

It was the first time that all the projects saw increase in prices, said the report.

"The figure reflected that the amount of vacant houses has been diminishing gradually," said He Xiaochen, an office analyst.

In the next several months, the office predicts, the housing index will continue to edge up stably.

(Shanghai Daily January 31, 2003)