A TOTAL of 26.15 million square meters of newly built apartments were sold in Shanghai last year, a fall of 8.1 percent from a year ago, Pan Jianxin, chief of the Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau said.

Meanwhile, the average selling price for the city's new apartments, which also include budget homes and apartments built for relocation projects, hit 7,038 yuan per square meter, a year-on-year jump of 340 yuan. Fewer apartments built for relocation projects were sold last year, and that caused the price rise.