Housing sales in 7 cities surge 29%, highest reported in Hyderabad: Anarock

Amid the second wave of the coronavirus and a slow-paced recovery of the economy, the housing sector in the top 7 cities showed considerably improvement with sales jumping 29 per cent and new launches by 51 per cent. The new figures were released in Anarock's Q1 2021 report. 

MMR & Pune account for 53 per cent of total sales in top cities, driven by stamp duty cuts, discounts and rock-bottom home loan rates, data showed. "As many as 58,290 homes were sold in the top 7 cities in Q1 2021 in comparison to 45,200 units in Q1 2020 - effectively breaching pre-Covid levels. Mumbai and Pune together accounted for 53 per cent of housing sales in the quarter – MMR sales increasing by 46 per cent annually, and Pune by 47 per cent. With approx. 8,670 units sold, Bengaluru was the only city in the top 7 to not record a major yearly change in total sales numbers in this quarter," Anarock said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, unsold inventory in the top 7 cities saw a nominal yearly decline – from 644,000 units towards Q1 2020-end to approx. 642,000 units by Q1 2021-end. However, on a q-o-q basis, the unsold stock rose by 1 per cent due to a robust new launch pipeline in most cities, the report noted. 

“Demand boosters like stamp duty cuts, further reductions in home loan rates by most banks (to 6.70 per cent) and ongoing developer discounts and offers helped the residential sector stage a convincing comeback in Q1 2021. Egged on by buoyant sales and enthusiastic consumer sentiment in the October-December period, developers launched several new projects in this quarter - with some spill-over from the pandemic-dampened 2020 pipeline,” said, Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock Property Consultant.

Q1 2021 Overall Sales Overview

* Hyderabad recorded the maximum rise in sales in this quarter among the top cities.

* In Chennai, approx. 2,850 units were sold - an increase of 30 per cent over Q1 2020 

* In Kolkata and NCR, housing sales increased by 10 per cent and 8 per cent respectively over Q1 2020, with approx. 2,680 units, and 8,790 units, respectively

* In Bengaluru, approx. 8,670 units were sold as compared to 8,630 units sold in Q1 2020.