Affordable housing inventory drops 19%, luxury stock up 24%; here's why

Affordable housing took a major hit post-pandemic as buyers in this segment adopted a cautious approach, but times are changing, and the latest numbers show a promising trend. Unsold inventory in the affordable housing segment (less than ₹40 lakh) fell by 19% across the top 7 cities in the past year, from 1.40 lakh units (Q1 2024-end) to 1.13 lakh units (Q1 2025-end). However, the luxury housing (more than ₹1.5 crore) saw a 24% surge in unsold stock, rising from 91,125 units (Q1 2024-end) to over 1.13 lakh units (Q1 2025-end), fuelled by robust demand and new supply.

City-wise, the data released by real estate consultant Anarock shows Bengaluru led the affordable category recovery, with a sharp 51% drop in unsold stock, followed by Chennai's 44% decline. Hyderabad was the only city to witness a 9% surge in its affordable housing stock in the period to around 1,815 units by Q1 2025-end.

"Affordable housing faced the sharpest pandemic fallout, with sales and new launches shrinking in the top 7 cities. Affordable housing sales share plummeted from 38% in 2019 to 18% in 2024, while its supply share dropped from 40% to 16% in the same period. However, a 19% dip in unsold stock hints at sustained demand led by end-users," says Anuj Puri, Chairman, ANAROCK Group.

In contrast, luxury housing soared, with its sales share rising from 7% in 2019 to 26% in 2024, and new supply share doubling from 11% to 26%. Puri says the segment saw unsold inventory pile up due to increased supply and cautious investor sentiment amid the ongoing global economic uncertainty. "Our data shows that unsold stock of luxury housing -- units priced over ₹1.5 crore rose 24% annually from about 91,125 units by Q1 2024-end to over 1.13 lakh units by Q1 2025-end."

Among the top 7 cities, Chennai and Pune were the only cities to see their unsold luxury stock decline in the period, by 4% and 11%, respectively. While Chennai’s current unsold luxury stock is at 2,453 units, Pune’s is at 3,668 units. NCR, MMR, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bengaluru also saw their unsold luxury stock rise. 

As of Q1 2025-end, a total of 5,59,808 units are unsold across the top 7 cities, of which around 1,12,744 fall in the affordable housing category and 1,13,193 in the luxury segment, with both segments accounting for 20% of the total unsold stock.

Overall, the housing market seems to have hit a roadblock, with the latest sales numbers for Q1 2025 showing a 28% decline across the top 7 cities against the same period in 2024. The Anarock data shows around 93,280 units were sold in Q1 2025 in the top 7 cities, in sharp contrast to all-time high sales of over 1.30 lakh units in Q1 2024.