Covid impact: PropEquity data shows 58% fall in housing sales in Q1

Data analytic firm PropEquity on Saturday reported that housing sales across seven major cities fell 58 per cent during April-June over the previous quarter due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to data, sales of residential properties declined to 45,208 units in April-June 2021 from 1,08,420 units in the preceding quarter.

"Sales or absorption fell by a massive 58 per cent as India witnessed the major brunt of the Covid second wave in April and May," PropEquity said in a statement.

Stringent lockdown across major cities in India impacted housing sales as home registrations were also suspended and home loan disbursals were slow, it added.

Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Delhi-NCR and Pune witnessed a fall in housing sales in Q2 of 2021 versus Q1 of 2021 by 55 per cent, 59 per cent, 49 per cent, 57 per cent, 63 per cent, 43 per cent and 62 per cent, respectively.

"Real estate sector which was slowly recovering by March was hit with the second wave. Going ahead, we may witness resizing of units, marketing led discounts, amenities and special payment schemes to be offered by developers to boost demand, especially during the beginning of the festive season," said Samir Jasuja, founder and managing director at PropEquity.

On a quarter on quarter basis, Bengaluru saw a downfall of 55 per cent in home sales in Q2 2021 at 5,487 units.

Housing sales in Chennai fell 59 per cent in Q2 2021 to 2,084 units.

Home sales in Hyderabad witnessed a decrease of 49 per cent in Q2 2021 at 6,463 units.

Kolkata saw a decrease of 57 per cent in home sales in Q2 2021 at 1,603 units.

In MMR, sales dipped 63 per cent in the second quarter at 15,562 units.

Housing demand in NCR declined 43 per cent to 4,465 units, while Pune witnessed a downfall of 62 per cent in sales to 9,544 units.

However, on a year-on-year basis, housing sales were up by 51 per cent across top 7 cities in India in the second quarter of 2021 to 45,208 units from 29,942 units in Q2 of 2020.

Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, MMR, NCR and Pune witnessed a jump in housing sales by 33 per cent, 65 per cent, 138 per cent, 14 per cent, 38 per cent, 98 per cent and 39 per cent, respectively.

PE Analytics owns and operates PropEquity, which is an online real estate data and analytics platform covering over 1,18,010 projects of 34,217 developers across over 44 cities in India.