Residential demand driven by end-users in Jan-Mar qtr: Survey

Nearly 97 per cent of the demand for residential units during the January-March quarter of 2015-16 came from end-users, a survey said.
The survey by real estate portal PropTiger, titled 'Realty Decoded', said the share of end-users in total demand is seeing a continuous increase, with the figure standing at 77 per cent in first quarter of the previous fiscal.
"Affordability and end use are going to define rules of the game. The market is seeing a fundamental shift with end users emerging as the key buyer segment across all cities.
"Given the price sensitive behaviour and demand for real use from this segment, the downside on both sales and prices, if any, is expected to be limited from here on," said the company's Business Head (Consulting and Data Insights) Anurag Jhanwar.

The study covered nine key cities -- Mumbai, Pune, Noida, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
However, sales during the quarter declined to 51,000 units over October-December 2015.

"In the four previous quarters, sales have hovered in the range of 49,000-57,000 units. However, the pace of decline, at four per cent over previous quarter, has come down to one of the lowest in the past nine quarters," the report said.
Hyderabad was the only city to show a sales increase during the January-March period, growing 5 per cent over the same quarter previous year. All other cities witnessed sales declines of 4-44 per cent from fourth quarter of 2014-15.

"Hyderabad also recorded an annual residential price appreciation of six per cent, closely followed by Ahmedabad with a price appreciation of five per cent. Over the past 11 quarters, Hyderabad has seen a price appreciation of 15 per cent, while Bengaluru has been a close second with a 13 per cent increase during the period," Jhanwar said.
The report indicates that the ongoing lull in the residential market is reflected in a continuous fall in launches and absorption, affecting stakeholder sentiment.
"The sector is also grappling with a slow inventory movement....Launch of new projects has declined 14 per cent from the previous quarter and 51 per cent compared with the same period the previous year - all cities have seen decline in new launches, indicating a reduction in the activity levels across primary residential markets," Jhanwar added.