URA caveat search: how to check new launch transaction prices

A URA caveat search is the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Private Residential Property Transactions e-Service, and for developers' own sales its records do not come from caveats at all. Since 25 May 2015, URA has based new-sale records on the options to purchase (OTPs) that developers issue, and it adds them every Friday. Resale and sub-sale records come from caveats lodged with the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and are updated every Tuesday and Friday. The search covers the last 60 months, according to URA's notes on the transactions e-Service.

That matters for October's launches. City Developments Limited (CDL) began Lucerne Grand sales on 3 October 2026; it says 350 units had been sold by 6pm the next day and gives the project's average price as S$2,480 per square foot (psf). Thomson Reserve's developers have scheduled its sales launch for 31 October. To check a quote, search the project, tick New Sale and compare it with records of a similar size. We have not run a search ourselves.

What does a URA caveat search actually show?

Private home transactions, searchable by project, by postal district (the property type field is then compulsory) and by type of sale. URA's glossary of data terms, last updated 17 June 2026, defines three words worth keeping beside you:

• Caveat: a legal document lodged with SLA by a purchaser to protect their interests after an OTP is exercised or a sale and purchase agreement is signed.
• Price: the price agreed between purchaser and vendor. It excludes stamp duties, agency fees, legal and other professional fees, so budget those separately; our BSD and ABSD calculator covers the stamp duty.
• Median price per square foot: for apartments and condominiums, URA calculates it on strata floor area. Our floor plan guide shows what that area may and may not include.

Across the market, resales outnumber new sales: of the 6,148 units URA counted in Q2 2026, about 35% were new sales, 62% resales and 3% sub sales (our arithmetic), so tick New Sale when you want developer prices only. For more detail, URA points to REALIS, its subscription service, and its private residential data page links a map of transactions and rental contracts over the same 60 months.

Why might a new-launch sale be missing or late?

Three reasons, from URA's own notes:

1. Weekly loading. New-sale records arrive on Fridays, so a weekend launch cannot show until a later update. URA does not say which Friday a given week's options reach the search.
2. Voluntary caveats. Resale and sub-sale records depend on caveats, which buyers need not lodge, so some of those sales never appear. The glossary adds that REALIS "may not reflect all the units sold directly by developers", because lodgement is voluntary and usually comes a few months after a purchase from a developer.
3. "Sold" means an option, not a completed purchase. URA counts a unit as sold when the developer gives the purchaser the OTP after a booking fee is paid. The URA pages we opened do not say what happens to a record if a buyer lets the option lapse; our option to purchase guide sets out the dates and forfeiture terms.

So the figures count at different moments. A developer's press release counts units sold by a stated hour, the e-Service loads options weekly, and URA's price indices use caveats with "options exercised", per the glossary. They need not match on a given day.

When should October's launches appear?

Our calendar applies URA's update rules to the developers' dates. The "first possible" Fridays, the holiday shifts and which month's figures first cover each launch are our own date arithmetic, not URA's commitments.

1. Saturday 3 October: Lucerne Grand sales began, per CDL's 4 October release. Friday 9 October was the first possible new-sale update.
2. Thursday 15 October: September's Developers' Sales were due. Lucerne Grand's launch falls in October, so its first monthly figures should come in November.
3. Friday 23 October: URA's Q3 2026 quarterly market update, per its Data Release Calendar; a notice on URA's pages set e-Services maintenance for 10pm to 2am that night.
4. Saturday 31 October: Thomson Reserve's sales launch is scheduled, per the developers' 15 October release. Friday 6 November is the first possible update after it.
5. Monday 16 November: October's Developers' Sales are due, the first monthly figures that could cover both launches.
6. Fridays 25 December and 1 January: public holidays; those updates should move to the following working day.

For the projects themselves, see our Lucerne Grand and Thomson Reserve guides; reading a developer's sales figures explains launch-weekend counts.

How do you check a quoted price against the records?

Start by turning each developer's "from" prices into price per square foot. The figures are the developers'; the division is ours.

• Lucerne Grand (CDL): two-bedroom from S$1.498 million for 624 sq ft, about S$2,401 psf; three-bedroom from S$1.988 million for 883 sq ft, about S$2,251 psf; four-bedroom premium from S$2.788 million for 1,152 sq ft, about S$2,420 psf. CDL gives the project's average price as S$2,480 psf.
• Thomson Reserve (UOL Group and CapitaLand Development): two-bedroom from S$1.544 million for 592 sq ft, about S$2,608 psf, matching the release's project-wide starting figure; three-bedroom from S$2.503 million for 947 sq ft, about S$2,643 psf; four-bedroom from S$3.388 million for 1,238 sq ft, about S$2,737 psf.

Two lessons. A "from" price is the cheapest unit of a type, and the cheapest per square foot need not be the smallest home: at Lucerne Grand the lowest from-price per square foot is the three-bedroom's. And Lucerne Grand's average sits above all its from-prices per square foot: an 883 sq ft unit at S$2,480 psf would cost about S$2.19 million, roughly S$202,000 more than the three-bedroom from-price. Neither release gives prices for particular floors or stacks.

Now an illustrative case. Farah and Jun Hao, upgrading from an HDB flat, are quoted S$2,050,000 for a 904 sq ft three-bedroom at a fictional launch. Their checklist:

1. Recompute the psf from the floor plan's strata area: S$2,050,000 divided by 904 is about S$2,268 psf. Our sqm to sq ft converter does this when a plan is in square metres.
2. Search the project and tick New Sale, then note where S$2,268 sits among records of a similar size.
3. Ask in writing why their unit differs from comparable records: floor, facing, stack or layout. Our unit comparison guide lists what to set side by side.
4. Date every figure, quote and record, in a new launch research file; the new-sale records change every Friday.

A record shows what one buyer agreed on one date. It does not value your unit, predict a resale price or tell you what remains unsold. For other ways to research a project, see Start your research.

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