Home sales hit a high note

The pandemic-hit market has been hard for India’s real estate sector as sales and development activities came to a complete halt for a few months last year following the national lockdown. However, things are looking up now with residential sales seeing a turnaround in the last three months.

According to data from real estate consultancy firm Anarock Property Consultants, housing sales in the top seven cities in India cumulatively recorded a 29% jump in the period between January 1 and March 25 this year as against the same period last year. About 58,290 homes were sold across the National Capital Region (NCR), the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata this year, compared to 45,200 units in the corresponding period last year, noted Anarock, adding that MMR—which comprises Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Powai—and Pune together accounted for 53% of housing sales in the quarter under review.

“Demand boosters like stamp duty cuts, further reductions in home loan rates by most banks (to 6.70%) and ongoing developer discounts and offers helped the residential sector stage a convincing comeback in Q1 [Jan 1-March 25, 2021]. Egged on by buoyant sales and enthusiastic consumer sentiment in the October-December period, developers launched several new projects in this quarter—with some spillover from the pandemic-dampened 2020 pipeline,” Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock Property Consultants, said in a statement.

The new project (residential) launches in the top seven cities under review rose by 51% between January and March this year compared to the corresponding period last year, the consultancy firm said in a statement adding that MMR, Pune, and Hyderabad together contributed 66% of the total new supply during the period under review.

“MMR and Pune were the most active in this quarter since the limited-period stamp duty cuts and other sops and discounts substantially reduced acquisition cost," said Puri, adding that “MMR’s homebuyers have responded proactively to the bottomed-out property prices in the country’s most expensive real estate market. This is adequately vouchsafed by the significant rise in property registrations in Mumbai in the first two months of the year.”

Anarock feels that housing affordability will potentially remain extremely favourable throughout 2021. “If the current sops and incentives continue, we will see sustained vibrancy in the upcoming quarters as well. End-users will drive maximum demand,” the real estate consultancy firm added.