SINGAPORE - Buyers bought 613 new private homes from property developers in March, a whopping 57.2 per cent more than the 390 units in February.

Buyer interest grew even at projects which had been launched for some time, as only 400 units were launched in the month.

On a year-on-year basis, the sales tally was 27.8 per cent up from the 480 units sold in March 2014. At the time, 724 units were launched.

Including executive condominiums, which are a hybrid of private and public housing, a total of 692 new homes were sold in March, up from 455 in February.

The jump in sales could be attributed to slightly more new units being launched for sale in March compared with February, as well as reasonable prices in an increasingly price sensitive market, said Mr Mohd Ismail Gafoor, PropNex Realty chief executive officer .

"This drew bargain-hunting homebuyers back to showflats... Buyers may also have realised that prices will not drop very much and so the current sentiments of a 'buyer's market' will not last long," said Mr Ismail.

Last month's tally takes the total number of new private home sales for the first quarter to 1,379, said Mr Ong Teck Hui, JLL national research director. This is comparable with 1,376 new private home sales in the fourth quarter of last year.

"Going forward, the question is whether quarterly volumes have bottomed out, which would give some indication of underlying demand," said Mr Ong.

The top selling project in March was Kingsford Waterbay in Upper Serangoon View, which was launched in the month. It sold 155 units at a median price of $1,111 per sq ft (psf).

Other popular developments included Sims Urban Oasis in Sims Drive, which was launched in February. It sold 107 units at a median price of $1,401 psf in March.

The Skywoods in Dairy Farm Heights sold 27 units at a median of $1,186 psf, while Symphony Suites in Yishun Close, which launched in January, sold 20 units at a median of $1,016 psf.