News: Residential Sales Up 13%, Launches Rise 19% in January-March: Report-27.04.2017

Residential sales up 13%, launches rise 19% in January-March: Report

ET Bureau  |  Updated: April 26, 2017, 16:00 IST

BANGALORE | MUMBAI: Residential property market is witnessing green shoots with housing sales growing 13% for the fourth quarter of 2016-17. The surge in the volume was primarily driven by Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru, which together accounted for 57% of total sales across top-9 cities during the quarter ended March, said a PropTiger.com report.

Total residential sales increased to 51,700 units during the quarter from 43,500 units in the previous quarter.

“Residential markets seem to have recovered from the demonetization lows with sales and launches showing healthy levels in Q4 FY’17. Large part of the recovery is driven by the affordable housing segment which has found favour after getting infrastructure status,” said Anurag Jhanwar, Business Head (Consulting and Data Insights), PropTiger.com, Housing.com and Makaan.com.

According to the report, real estate sector in India has witnessed a revival after demonetization, with sales increasing by 13% as compared to 22% fall in the previous quarter across top 9 cities of India. Mumbai contributed nearly 23% to the total sales during the quarter, followed by Pune at 18% and Bengaluru at 16%.

The report added that there has been an increase in the number of launches across these cities by 19%, the highest in the last eight quarters. Around 51,500 units were launched in the fourth quarter of 2016-17 compared to 43,250 units during the preceding quarter. As far as launches are concerned, Mumbai contributed a maximum share of 26% to total launches followed by Hyderabad at 14% and Gurgaon at 13%. The share of affordable housing launches rose 22% owing to the recent sops offered by the government and infrastructure status received by affordable housing.

“We might witness realignment of supply and demand with the implementation of RERA. While we might see some turbulence over the next couple of quarters, the long term outlook remains positive,” Jhanwar said.

Inventory overhang also eased during the quarter – from 46 months in the preceding quarter to 38 months in the fourth quarter. Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune together accounted for over 55% of the unsold inventory. Noida has highest share of unsold inventory aged above 3 years; more than 65% of unsold inventory in Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Pune is in the affordable segment.

“Prices remained range-bound in top 9 cities, across all the segments, with marginal annual appreciation in the range of 1% to 3%. Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai witnessed a marginal appreciation in the range of 3 to 5% per annum,” the report added.