By Mr. Propwise

Okay, we know that March home sales were bad. Very bad. According to the URA data, private new home sales fell from 2,793 units in March last year to 480 units in the same month this year – a whopping 83 percent decline. The total number of units sold in 1Q2014 fell to 1,791 from 2,568 in the previous quarter and 5,412 in 1Q2013, a 30 percent and 67 percent decline respectively.

What’s driving the slump?

Analysts have attributed this to the impact of the government cooling measures and Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework, as well as the lack of launches by developers. Launch volumes in the first quarter of this year were the lowest since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008. The Santorini and Ascent@456 were the only two projects launched in March.

But many analysts believe that new home sales could pick up ...