SINGAPORE - The number of private homes sold by developers in May rose by more than half over April as the number of new units launched also saw a sizeable increase.

The 1,121 private homes, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), that developers moved in May was up by 53.1 per cent from the 732 units in the month before, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday (June 18).

This was the best monthly take-up since developers sold 1,246 new private homes last August.

Compared to a year ago, developers' sales last month was 7.9 per cent above the 1,039 new private homes sold in May 2017.

In May, 1,060 new private homes were launched, a 59.6 per cent surge from 664 units put on the market in April, and nearly three times the 370 units launched a year ago.

May's tally brings the number of private homes, excluding ECs, that developers sold in the first five months of 2018 to 3,480 units, 39.4 lower than the the 5,747 units they moved in the year-ago period.

The pace of launches has also slowed with developers putting on sale 2,792 private homes from January to May this year, one-third less than the 4,171 units for the same period in 2017.

URA's data also showed that developers moved 136 EC units in May, less than one-quarter of the 596 units in the previous month and lower than the 377 units they moved in May last year.

No new ECs, a public-private housing hybrid, were launched last month.