Unsold stocks of luxury flats down 12 pc in last one year: ANAROCK

Stable prices have made luxury housing more attractive with unsold units priced between Rs 1.5-2.5 crore falling by 12 per cent in the last one year, according to property consultant Anarock.

"The slowdown in Indian residential real estate over the last few years caused most high net-worth individuals (HNIs) to shun luxury housing and look at other investments within or outside real estate.

"However, our latest study indicates that HNIs are now using the tail end of the slowdown in luxury residential market to their advantage," Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri said.

He attributed the revival in demand for luxury homes to stagnant prices and attractive deals offered by cash-starved real estate developers.

"To put it in numbers, the current unsold stock of luxury homes (priced between Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2.5 crore) has reduced to about 42,650 units (in Q1 2019) against 48,300 units as in Q1 2018," Puri said.

Among the top seven cities, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) accounted for the maximum share of unsold luxury housing stock at about 23,930 units in March quarter 2019, while Kolkata had the least stock with around 770 units.

Bengaluru saw 49 per cent decline in unsold luxury stock within a year, from 6,370 units in first quarter 2018 to 3,260 units in the same quarter of 2019.

Unsold stock of luxury flats dipped 37 per cent in Kolkata, 50 per cent in Chennai and 10 per cent in Hyderabad.

"The two most expensive markets of NCR (National Capital Region) and MMR each saw a 7 per cent yearly decline with NCR currently holding just 9,590 unsold luxury units as on Q1 2019 and MMR still saddled with 23,930 unsold luxury units," the report said.

In the mid-segment housing (priced between Rs 40-80 lakh), the unsold housing stock saw the maximum decline of 14 per cent during this one-year period (Q1 2018 to Q1 2019) at 2.25 lakh units in the seven major cities. Affordable housing segment has 2.42 lakh unsold units.

"The overall unsold stock in the affordable housing category (priced less than Rs 40 lakh) saw a 3 per cent increase since Q1 2018. This jump in unsold stock is primarily because this segment saw the maximum new launches in 2018. It accounted for 40 per cent share of the total of 1,95,300 units launched in the year," Anarock said.

The consultant said unsold stocks in affordable housing would reduce because of maximum demand in this segment driven by lower GST rate and small ticket-price.