The statistics department said Wednesday, July 15, that retail sales fell 10.3 percent from a year earlier after dropping 11.7 percent in April and 7.3 percent in March.

Singapore said Tuesday that its gross domestic product rose an annualized 20 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter as the city-state broke out of a year-long recession. The growth was led by a surge in pharmaceutical production, while employment and consumer spending will likely lag. GDP shrank 3.7 percent from a year earlier.

"It seems the worst is behind us, but people are nervous about how much momentum we have," said David Cohen, an economist with Action Economics in Singapore. "I think now that we've turned the corner, we'll continue to grow and that should support Singapore's retail sector."

Sales of motor vehicles fell 24 percent, jewelry and watches dropped 17 percent, and apparel and footwear slid 6.8 percent, the department said in a statement.

Sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent from April.

A struggling tourist sector has also hurt retail sales. Tourist arrivals fell 12 percent in the first five months of the year.

Singapore Airlines, the world's second-largest carrier by market value, said Wednesday that passengers in June fell 19 percent from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, new home sales in June rose to the highest in at least two years as developers slashed prices to attract investors.

Sales jumped to 1825 units, up from 1673 in May, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said Wednesday. The previous high was 1731 units sold in August 2007. The URA began publishing monthly sales figures in June 2007.

Property prices, especially for luxury units, have plummeted during the past year as a severe recession helped burst a speculative bubble.

Prices for high-end residential real estate will likely fall between another 5 percent to 15 percent - or 43 percent from their peak in 2008 - as oversupply and a weak economy undermine investor confidence, said Tony Darwell, head of Southeast Asia property research for Nomura in Singapore.

"At the moment, I think we're seeing buying for buying's sake," Darwell said. "The risk that we see is that people are buying without looking at the underlying fundamentals."

"Property prices are more likely to bottom out toward the middle of 2010, rather than the middle of 2009, which is what the market is currently expecting."

Associated Press Writer Bryna Djuhar in Singapore contributed to this report.

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