Singapore’s November private residential sales rose the most in seven months, sending this year’s property transactions to a record high as government curbs on speculation failed to deter buyers.

The number of home sales climbed to 1,909 from a revised 1,065 in the previous month, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said on its website today, the most since April, when 2,208 units were bought. For the first 11 months, developers sold 15,025 properties, according to preliminary data from the government, more than the high of 14,811 homes in 2007.

Singapore in August increased down payments for second mortgages and imposed a stamp duty on property held for less than three years to curb speculation. Home prices have climbed for five straight quarters, with an index tracking residential values rising to the highest since at least 1993 in the three months ended Sept. 30, amid a rebound in the island’s economy.

“It is clear from November’s sales figure that the measures have been less than effective in taming the buying frenzy,” Tay Huey Ying, research director at Colliers International, a real estate brokerage and consulting company. “There is now an increased risk for more and stiffer demand- side cooling measures to be announced in the next two to three months.”

The Lakefront Residences, a project by Keppel Land, was the top seller last month, with 437 of the 500 units offered finding buyers. The development, located in the western Singapore suburb of Jurong Lake, fetched a median price of $1,075 a square foot.