At the luxury level, The Orchard Residences sold all 98 units up for grabs in the first two weeks of its invitation-only launch, and set a new segment benchmark of S$3,213 per sqft, with the upper floors fetching closer to S$4,000 per sqft.

Developers continued to test the level, with The Marq at Patterson Hill crossing the threshold by the half year.

The price started at S$3,800 per sqft which was raised to S$4,137 prior to the launch, and all 22 units put on the block were sold, with one nailing down a record S$5,100 per sqft.

In the high-end segment, City Developments sold all 59 units in The Solitaire within a week of its soft launch. The Balmoral area project was sold at an average of S$2,000 per sqft.

The 45-unit View@Meyer sold 80 per cent at an average launch price of S$1,500 per sqft, much higher than the average selling price of between S$750 per sqft and S$850 per sqft for nearby projects in the mid-tier range.

Prices in the mid-tier market are now pushing the S$1,000 barrier. The 273-unit Sky@Eleven at Upper Thomson fully sold at an average of S$975 per sqft within a day of its preview. One North Residences at Buona Vista saw 391 of its 405 units grabbed within a week of the launch at an average price range of S$900 per sqft.

The picture is just as bright in the mass-market segment. Starting off the year, Yew Tee Residences at Yew Tee quickly sold out at an all time segment high of S$495 per sqft. Some 70 per cent of the 89 units held for post-launch sale were subsequently taken up at a higher S$505 per sqft. The Sim Lian group's 338-unit high-rise at West Coast Way sold 50 per cent of its units during a weekend launch at an average price of S$638 per sqft.

According to Colliers, mass-market projects dominated new launches in the first quarter of this year, accounting for some 32 per cent of the total new units released for sale by developers.

High-end projects also featured strongly during the quarter, accounting for about 27 per cent of the total and followed closely by new projects in the mid-tier segment at 25 per cent.

Riding on the buoyancy of the market, developers released an estimated 4,200 housing units in the primary market in the March-quarter, surpassing the peak of 3,696 units in the previous quarter. Despite the large volume of new units launched in the quarter, sales take-up was robust. Developers sold about 3,400 units or 81 per cent of total new units launched.

Buoyancy in the residential property market continued to lift prices to new highs. Average capital values of luxury apartments escalated further by 10.5 per cent to an exceptional lofty high of S$2,176 per sqft in first quarter of the year, after reaching an unprecedented high point of S$1,970 per sqft in the last quarter of 2006.

The luxury tier attained a record high of S$4,080 per sqft for a unit in Orchard Residences in the present quarter, almost doubling the highest price of S$2,882 per sqft achieved in Four Seasons Park during the peak in the mid-1990s.

For the market as a whole, residential property prices attained high quarter-on-quarter growth of 4.6 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

A broad-based recovery in the residential property market looks set to strengthen in the quarters to come. As Singapore continues to enhance its reputation as an international market, the high and luxury ends of the market will continue to draw robust foreign interests. The mid and mass segments of the market will enjoy further filtering down effects from the high and luxury ends.

The recent further relaxation of the subletting rules for public housing will enhance upgrading opportunities and this could give the mass market an additional boost.