Downtown is now proving the popular upmarket location

Upmarket homes in Shanghai's prestigious downtown locations are becoming increasingly popular as prices pick up.

Figures released by Dooioo, a high-end property agent in the cosmopolitan city, showed that new villa sales in May topped 750. That was a 9.6 percent rise compared to the same period last year, and a 159 percent month-on-month increase.

"After years of sluggish sales, the high-end market is starting to grow again," Wang Cheng, a property agent with Shanghai Baiye Realty Services Ltd, said. "Buyers are trading up for more spacious homes in nice neighborhoods."