Home Sales, New Launches Decline In September Quarter: PropTiger Report

Various measures launched by sector stakeholders are yielding only limited results as housing sales in India’s nine key markets declined by 25 per cent during the July-September quarter this year, when compared to the same period last year.

According to Real Insights, a quarterly analysis of key residential markets in the country by PropTiger Datalabs, new unit launches fell by 45 per cent in the September quarter year-on-year (y-o-y), while housing sales fell by 25 per cent. The only positive news was the reduction in unsold housing stock, with inventory declining by 13 per cent over the July-September quarter in FY19.

As against 61,679 fresh units launched in Q2 FY19, only 33,883 new homes were launched in Q2FY20. Of these, 41 per cent were priced at Rs 45 lakhs or less. While new launches declined across cities during the quarter except Gurugram, the highest share of fresh units during the three-month period, was claimed by Mumbai and Pune

A total of 65,799 units were sold during the quarter ending September this year as against 88,078 units during the corresponding quarter the previous year. Nearly half the units sold during the quarter were affordable homes.

“While new launch numbers might continue to fall in the coming quarters amid the liquidity crunch, we expect home sales numbers to improve, factoring in the festive spirit. Record low interest rates would encourage buyers this festive season,” says Dhruv Agarwala, Group CEO, Elara Technologies.

This could further lower the inventory, especially in affordable housing. More than half the unsold stock currently lying in India’s prime residential markets are affordable homes, shows data. Developers currently have a total unsold stock comprising of over 7.78 units.

The report covers the residential markets of Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida and Pune. It shows that price movement in most cities has been negligible in the past one year, except Hyderabad where, property values have appreciated 15 per cent in the past one year. Barring Gurugram and Chennai where rates moved slightly downwards, prices also moved up in the range of 2-4 per cent.

The report also indicates that more than four lakh new units will be delivered in second half of the financial year. Another, 4.52 lakh ready-to-move-in homes are expected to join the market by FY21.