Home sales rise 93% in Q2CY21 due to low base, says Anarock report

However, home sales dropped by 58 per cent sequentially

Residential sales have risen 93 per cent in the second quarter of this calendar year (CY) in the top seven cities due to low base in the Q2 of calendar year 2020 that saw the first Covid-19 wave. Also, developers actively pushed products through technology, which gave a fillip to sales, says a new report.
 
However, home sales dropped by 64 per cent compared to Q2 of 2019, the pre-Covid year, and 58 per cent on a quarterly basis (compared to Q1 of CY21), said the report by Anarock Property Consultants.
 
About 24,570 units were sold in Q2 of CY21 across the top seven cities, 12,740 units were sold in the corresponding quarter of 2020, and 58,290 units in the preceding quarter (Q1 of 2021). Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune drove a major share of housing sales between April and June 2021, with a 46 per cent share.
 
Meanwhile, despite localised lockdowns and restrictions due to the second wave, developers launched new projects (mostly digitally) and put about 36,260 units on the market across the top seven cities. Interestingly, Hyderabad is the frontrunner in overall housing launches — with 8,850 units launched in Q2 — followed by MMR with 6,880 units and Bengaluru with 6,690 units, it said.
 
Notably, the premium budget category (priced between Rs 80 lakh and Rs 1.5 crore) saw maximum launches in the quarter with a 36 per cent share. Next came the mid-range segment (priced at Rs 40-80 lakh). Unlike in the previous quarters, affordable housing accounted for just 20 per cent of the new supply in Q2 of 2021.
 
Godrej Properties chairman Pirojsha Godrej said during a conference call with analysts: “We expect to see a significant impact in the first quarter but we would like to quickly scale up with new launches and expect momentum to pick up from the second quarter.”
 
Anarock said unsold inventory across the top seven cities increased by 2 per cent in Q2 of 2021 over the previous quarter. Unsold inventory increased from 6,41,860 units in Q1 of this year to about 6,53,540 units in Q2.

 
On a yearly basis, the overall unsold stock in the top seven cities increased by 3 per cent. However, the two major realty hotspots — MMR and National Capital Region (NCR) — saw their unsold stocks decline by six per cent and one per cent, respectively.
 
Anuj Puri, chairman of Anarock Property Consultants, said: “The second Covid-19 wave definitely impacted overall residential property market activity in the second quarter this year when juxtaposed against the preceding quarter. However, compared to the corresponding period of 2020, the sector displayed remarkable resilience. In the backdrop of developers adopting technology in their businesses, there was a huge yearly jump in both new launches and sales.  Importantly, the localised lockdowns and restrictions did not dent activity as much as the complete nationwide lockdown last year. Additionally, we saw the rising dominance of listed and leading developers, whose sales share against the smaller and unorganised ones increased further in the quarter amid the second wave — from 40:60 previously to 43:57 now. Back in FY17, the ratio was 17:83.”
 
He added: “Restrictions are now easing across cities and the vaccination drive is gathering momentum. Many current homeowners seek to upgrade to larger homes and the previously purchase-averse millennials remain very active property buyers.”
 
Due to the second wave, average residential property prices across the top seven cities remained stagnant in Q2 against the preceding quarter. On a yearly basis, Bengaluru and NCR saw average residential prices rise by two per cent, while MMR, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai saw average property prices increase by 1 per cent. Kolkata saw no yearly change in average property prices.