The number of new condominiums put on sale in the Tokyo metropolitan area in January fell 2.8 percent from a year before to 3,327 units, the Real Estate Economic Institute said Thursday.

The ratio of sales contracts signed to new units put up for sale in the reporting month came to 70.4 percent, up 3.7 percentage points from a year earlier but down 1.2 points from the previous month.

The average per-unit price rose 10.1 percent in January from a year earlier to 39.74 million yen. The average price per square meter stood at 527,000 yen, up 6.7 percent.

Among the new condos put up for sale, those in high-rise buildings of 20 stories or more saw a 20 percent decline to 56 units, it said.

The number of unsold condominiums reached 10,658 units at the end of January, down 953 units from the end of December.

The institute predicted about 8,000 new condos will be put on the Tokyo metropolitan market in February.

In the Kinki region, the center of which is Osaka, 1,085 new condos were listed for sale in January, down 11.4 percent from a year earlier.

The ratio of sales contracts to new units put up for sale in the region came to 64.9 percent, up 4.2 percentage points from a year earlier but down 7.1 points from December.