According to Anarock, housing sales declined 11% from July to September to 1.07 lakh units in seven main cities, owing to lesser launches and an annual 23% increase in average prices. Real estate consultancy Anarock released figures on Thursday showing an 11% drop in residential property sales in July-September to 1,07,060 units from 1,20,290 units the previous year.
Furthermore, as per the Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri, "All the top cities individually recorded a dip in housing sales." The top seven cities had a 19% decline in new housing production, with 93,750 units launched from July to September 2024 compared to 1,16,220 units in the same time in 2023.
"Nevertheless, the fact that sales remained higher than launches indicates that the demand-supply equation remains robust," according to Puri. He noted that house sales in the third quarter slowed due to high pricing and the monsoon season.
"As always in this period, the 'shraad' period also suppressed demand to an extent as many Indians defer home buying in this period." Overall, Puri stated that the housing market is stabilizing after reaching a new peak in January-March 2024.
Anarock stated that developers have multiple projects lined up for the holiday quarter (October-December), when the market is likely to witness an increase in demand. "That said, (sales) growth in the upcoming quarters may not be as steep as seen in the last 1-2 years," Puri said.
"Residential prices appear to have peaked and are now progressively stabilizing across cities. Developers are anticipated to throw out many incentives and discounts throughout the forthcoming Christmas quarter to entice purchasers."
According to the report, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) had the greatest sales among the top seven cities in the July-September quarter, totaling 36,190 units, a 6% decrease from 38,505 units the previous year. Sales in Pune fell 17 percent to 19,050 units from 22,885 units during the review period. Housing sales in Delhi-NCR decreased 2% to 15,570 from 15,865 units.
In Bengaluru, house sales fell 8% to 15,025 units from 16,395 units. Hyderabad reported sales of 12,735 units, a 22% decrease from 16,375 units in the third quarter of the 2023 calendar year. Housing sales in Kolkata fell 25% to 3,980 units from 5,320. In Chennai, property sales declined 9% to 4,510 units between July and September, down from 4,945 units the previous year.
"Due to escalating input costs as well as significant sales growth, average residential property prices across the top 7 cities collectively rose by 23 percent annually - from Rs 6,800 per sq. ft. in Q3 2023 to Rs 8,390 per sq. ft. in Q3 2024," Anarock reported. Among the top seven cities, Hyderabad had the most 32 percent increase in average costs.
