Residential launches see 61% growth in Q3, says PropTiger report

With festival season nearing its peak, the real estate market has bounced back with a positive buyer sentiment

The third quarter (Q3) of this financial year registered a growth of 61 per cent year-on-year (YoY) as compared to Q3 last year, and it went up marginally by 3 per cent from the second quarter, according to a report by PropTiger.

A total of 104,820 units were launched in Q3 of 2022 — at par with the average quarterly levels of 100,000 units back in 2015. A majority of the new supply in Q3 2022 was concentrated in the price range of Rs 1-3 crore, accounting for 32 per cent, closely followed by the Rs 45-75 lakh price range (31 per cent), the report said.

Residential sales have continued to show robust growth with 83,220 units, a 49 per cent YoY growth between July and September 2022; 55,910 units were sold in the corresponding period last year.

Mumbai and Pune continue to top the charts. The two cities contributed to 53 per cent of the total sales in Q3 2022. Properties sold in the price range of Rs 45-75 lakh accounted for 27 per cent.

“The real estate industry is bouncing back from the pandemic and subsequent disruptions, and it’s evident from the data trends and insights in our report. Especially with the festive season which has just commenced, we’re experiencing a continuous surge in consumer sentiment towards property investments,” said Vikas Wadhawan, Group CFO, PropTiger.com, Housing.com, and Makaan.com.

He said that the Q3 had seen a significant improvement in demand for housing and this would set the ball rolling for the next quarter as well.

Despite the slight increase in overall interest rates, the demand for housing has not dipped. “In fact, we’ve gauged from our report that the demand for residential properties has surpassed the pre-pandemic levels of Q3 2019,” Wadhawan said.

The real estate sector lacks ready-to-move-in inventories. About 19 per cent of the units sold were ready-to-move-in (RTMI) properties, while the remaining 81 per cent were under construction or new launches. The survey said that 58 per cent of the potential homebuyers were looking for RTMI properties.

According to the report, property prices registered a 6 per cent YoY hike in Q3 2022 across the top eight cities — Ahmedabad, Delhi NCR (Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, and Faridabad), Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai metropolitan region popularly known as MMR (Boisar, Dombivli, Mumbai, Mazagaon, Panvel, Thane West), and Pune.

The surge in inflation, hike in input costs and premium charged over ready-to-move-in properties continued to put upward pressure on property prices across major cities.

The survey finds a significant decline in the inventory overhang — dipping to 32 months during Q3 2022 from last year’s 44 months in Q3 2021. This comes on the back of sustained sales momentum as the sector steadily recovers from the pandemic’s impact. Kolkata had the lowest inventory overhang in Q3 2022 (24 months), while Delhi NCR had the highest (62 months).

Moreover, the overall unsold inventory in Q3 2022 stood at 7.85 lakh units, with nearly 21 per cent of the unsold inventory in the top 8 cities falling in the RTMI category.