Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released recent data on Thursday that showed sales of new private homes fell 61.5 per cent in February compared to the same month a year ago in the country.
Last month, the developers sold 377 units, excluding executive condominiums, compared with 979 units in February 2017. Reports said a total of 469 private homes, including ECs, were sold, whereas 1,308 units were sold a year ago. However, if ECs are excluded, the sales reduced 28.1 per cent in February from the revised 524 units sold in January.
In February, developers launched a total of 186 new homes. But, no new EC unit was launched at that time.
Real estate agency ERA said that there were no major launches in February and "most buyers were not in the home buying mood". This was mainly due to Chinese New Year falling in the middle of the month.
Ong Teck Hui, national director of research and consultancy at real estate firm JLL, said that it is "not indicative of a market slow down" despite the low-key performance in February.
Ong expects that launches and sales of new private homes may rise in March. "Both launches and sales of new private homes are expected to pick up from March, as developers resume project sales and more buyers return to the market after the festive lull," he told Channel NewsAsia.
In February, Queens Peak at Dundee Road was the highest selling private residential project with 47 units sold.
