News: Housing sales dip 42% in Jan-Mar at 45,200 units amid coronavirus concerns-26-03-2020
Updated On: Mar 26, 2020
Perhaps the only silver lining is that developers were able to shed nearly 3% of their unsold inventory in a year--at 6.44 lakh units now against 6.65 lakh units in March quarter 2019. However, the decline was mere 1% on a quarterly basis.
MUMBAI: The outbreak of Coronavirus has hit housing sales across top 7 cities pushing it down 42% from a year ago to 45,200 units. New launches too witnessed drop of 42% annually to around 41,200 units, showed data from ANAROCK Property Consultants.
Sales declined by 24 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
On sequential basis, housing sales saw a decline of 24% and supply registered a decrease of 21% Perhaps the only silver lining is that developers were able to shed nearly 3% of their unsold inventory in a year--at 6.44 lakh units now against 6.65 lakh units in March quarter 2019. However, the decline was mere 1% on a quarterly basis.
“Given the ongoing global healthcare calamity, it’s no surprise that housing sales and new project launches across India’s top 7 cities decreased both on yearly and quarterly basis. As expected, monthly data trends reveal that March--the month when most advisories and lockdown were imposed--saw a steep decline in both new launches and housing sales against the preceding two months,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants.
The lockdowns, aimed at to curtailing the spread of the virus, have stalled construction activity and will lead to project delays in the future.
The key cities contributing to new unit launches during the quarter included Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Bengaluru, Pune, and National Capital Region (NCR) -- together accounting for 80% of unit additions.
Residential property prices across the top cities remained stagnant in Q1 2020 over the previous quarter, the report showed. On yearly basis too, there was no price movement.
Mumbai region saw the launch of around 10,480 units – a decline of 61% from a year ago. Over 69% of the new supply was in the sub Rs 80 lakhs budget segment. New launches in Bengaluru and NCR declined 5% and 23% from a year ago.
In terms of sales, Hyderabad recorded a significant drop of 50%, while MMR and NCR also recorded a decrease of 40%. Ends
