Property prices go down across nine cities in September quarter

The National Housing Bank’s Residex, which tracks residential property prices across 15 cities, has shown a sure sign of demand slowing. Property prices in nine cities dropped in the September quarter, while two cities experienced falling prices in the previous quarter.

The number of cities with property rates rising was down to six in the second quarter, against 12 earlier, according to the NHB index.

R V Verma, chairman and managing director, NHB, called it a clear case of demand slowing due to interest rates peaking. He also brought out the difference between investors’ and consumers’ markets.

Verma told Business Standard, “Metro cities are investors’ market, and interest rate hike does not deter them from buying, thereby ensuring a buoyant demand there.” However, most other cities are consumers’ markets, where the end user is deferring his decision to buy.

Kolkata is the only city where prices have been declining since the third quarter of 2010-11. Verma noted that Kolkata was not an aggressive market.

“Again, it is an end users’ market, and is not of much interest to an investor, which is keeping the demand subdued,” he said.

Property prices in Pune rose the maximum among all the cities surveyed, at 13 per cent, in the second quarter, compared to the first in 2011-12. Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, and Bangalore followed, recording increase of nine per cent, seven per cent, five per cent, two per cent and one per cent, respectively.

The Residex, designed to help general consumers and property buyers and borrowers in decision making, displayed a nine per cent decline in prices in Kochi, eight per cent in Hyderabad, and seven per cent each in Bhopal and Surat.