Housing sales dip 42 pc in Jan-Mar at 45,200 units amid coronavirus concerns: Report

Housing sales fell by 42 per cent during January-March period at 45,200 units across seven major cities on poor demand amid concerns over spread of coronavirus infections, according to housing brokerage firm Anarock.

Housing sales stood at 78,510 units in the year-ago period across seven cities -- Delhi-NCR, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, as per sales data till March 25.

Sales declined by 24 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Anarock, with nearly Rs 200 crore turnover last fiscal, said that there would be negligible sales till this month end because of nationwide lockdown.

"Given the ongoing global healthcare calamity, it's no surprise that housing sales and new project launches across India's top seven cities decreased both on yearly and quarterly basis," Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri said.

He further said that, March -- the month when most advisories and lockdown were imposed -- saw a steep decline in both new launches and housing sales against the preceding two months.

According to the data, housing sales in Delhi-NCR dropped by 41 per cent at 8,150 units during January-March 2020 from 13,740 units in the same period last year.

In MMR, sales were down by 42 per cent to13,910 units from 24,000 units in the year-ago period, while, Bengaluru saw 45 per cent dip at 8,630 units from 15,580 units in January-March 2019.

Sales in Pune declined to 7,200 units from12,340 units, a drop of 42 per cent, whereas, Hyderabad witnessed the maximum fall of 50 per cent at 2,680 units from 5,400 units during the period under review.

Sales in Chennai stood at 2,190 units, a 36 per cent fall from 3,430 units in January-March 2019 and Kolkata saw 39 per cent decline to 2,440 units in January-March 2020 from 4,020 units a year ago.

"The government has taken an inarguably necessary hard-line stance to curtail the spread of the virus. The lockdowns have stalled construction activity and will lead to project delays in the future, but this is a reality the sector must accept and live with," Puri said.

New launches too fell by 42 per cent annually - from 70,480 units in the first quarter of 2019 to approx 41,200 in January-March 2020, the report said.