New private home sales staged a strong comeback last month on the back of an economic recovery and the ongoing vaccine roll-out.

Speculation of more cooling measures may also have nudged some buyers to jump in sooner, analysts said.

The result was sales of 1,296 units - the highest March take-up since 2017 - that was double February's total of 645.

Developers booked 96 per cent more transactions last month than in the same month last year, with just under half of these coming from high-end condominiums in prime districts.

Last month's bumper performance brought developer sales in the first quarter to 3,573 units, up 66 per cent on the same period last year.

Colliers International research head Tricia Song noted that this was the best quarterly performance for developer sales since the second quarter of 2013 when 4,538 units were moved - and "triggered eight rounds of cooling measures", she added.

Secondary market sales for the first quarter were also encouraging, estimated at 4,005 units based on Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) Realis data.

The robust residential market and news of the economy growing by 0.2 per cent year on year in the first quarter could boost buyer sentiment and developers' confidence in launching new projects, said Mr Ong Teck Hui, senior director of research and consultancy at JLL.