UNITED States private-equity firm Blackstone Group has agreed to a deal with Great Eagle to build high-end apartments in China, where the housing market is booming, the Financial Times said yesterday.

Blackstone will back Great Eagle's plan to develop more than 1,000 new homes in the northeast China's port city of Dalian, its first significant investment in China, the newspaper said, without citing sources.
NEW home sales in Shanghai registered 172,000 square meters, the same as last week while average price climbed 1 percent to 20,095 yuan (US$2,964) per square meter, Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co said today. Homes built for relocation of residents under urban redevelopment plans were excluded in Uwin's weekly statistices.

"The tug-of-war between real estate developers and home buyers continued as no major price cuts have been offered so far, more than four months after the introduction of the State tightening policies," said Lu Qilin, a researcher at Uwin. "The government should further boost the local supply of new homes, particularly small-sized apartments, to help increase buyers' affordablity."

New home supply during the week ending August 22 stood at 167,000 square meters, compared to 68,000 square meters a week earlier, Uwin statistics showed.

A latest survey by the leading real estate websited Soufun has found that more than 71 percent of people think homes in Shanghai are too expensive. In particular, more than 37 percent of respondents said houses beyond the city's Outer Ring Road are most overvalued.

As a result, 51 percent of respondents said they will continue to take a "wait-and-see" attitude over the coming two months while more than 55 percent of people said they will consider purchasing a home if price could be slashed by 20 to 30 percent from their current high level.

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