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There are signs that buyer sentiment in the property market may be improving. According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the number of private homes sold in March leapt 80 per cent from February.

Developers were even more positive, having launched more than 600 units for sale in March – about 85 per cent more than the month before, and the highest in seven months. However, taken as a whole, the first quarter was the worst since 2003. A total of 301 residential units, excluding executive condominiums, were sold last month, according to data released yesterday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. In February, 174 units were sold.

Most of the increase in sales came from the high-end market where sales skyrocketed 80 percent, compared to the 31 percent jump in suburban region sales. “Developers’ sentiments on the mass market far exceeds the buyers’ expectations, which is evident in the number of launches and also the recent strong biddings in the three Government Land Sales site at Simei, West Coast Crescent and Yishun. Contrary to developers’ optimism, buyers maintain a more cautious outlook of the market as the economy is expected to ease in the next few months, despite having a strong projection of GDP at 7.2 percent in Q1 08,” Dr Chua Yang Liang – local director and head of research, South East Asia, Jones Lang LaSalle noted.

Prices also rose from 170.8 points in Q4 2007 to 178 points in Q1 2008. This represents an increase of 4.2 percent, compared with the 6.8 percent increase in the previous quarter. Further, rrices of non-landed private residential properties increased by 4.4 percent in the Core Central Region, 3.9 percent in the Rest of Central Region and 4.8 percent in the Outside Central Region in the same quarter.