SINGAPORE - Developers in Singapore moved 928 private homes in October, down nearly 27 per cent from the 1,270 units they sold in the previous month but up nearly 85 per cent from the 502 units sold in the same month last year.

The above figures - which exclude executive condominium (EC) units - were released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday (Nov 15) based on its survey of licensed housing developers.

Including ECs, which are a public-private housing hybrid, developers moved 955 units in October, marking a drop of 26.4 per cent from the 1,298 units sold in September.

Last month, developers launched 892 private homes for sale, down nearly 48 per cent from 1,714 units in September, but up a whopping 309 per cent from the 218 units in October last year, the URA data show.

PropNex Realty chief executive Ismail Gafoor noted that: "With the absence of major new launches for the month of October, existing projects that were previously launched remained dominant.

The top five best-selling new launches for the month of October were Parc Esta, Treasure At Tampines, Neu At Novena, Parc Botannia and Midtown Bay. Parc Esta sold a total of 92 units at a median price of $1,686 psf, followed by Treasure At Tampines, which moved 88 units at a median price of $1,373 psf.

Mr Ismail added: "For the first 10 months of this year, a total of 8,397 units were sold as compared with 7,461 units transacted in the corresponding period in 2018. This was a 12.5 per cent surge in units sold.

"With fewer launches expected in the last two months as a result of school holidays and festive period, we are expecting the year to end with 9,500 to 9,800 units sold, exceeding 2018's sales figures of 8,795 units sold (excluding ECs)."