Last several quarters have been a great time for India’s residential real estate industry. In the backdrop of Covid-19, the need to have a home, or larger one at that, led to a strong growth in housing sales. Rise in home loan interest rates in recent months doesn’t seem to have had a huge impact on residential real estate demand so far.
Already sales as well as launches between January-September 2022 in the top seven cities in India have topped sales over the pre-pandemic year of 2019. According to real estate consulting firm Anarock, in the first nine months of the current calendar year, 2.65 lakh new units were launched, while 2.73 lakh units were sold. In comparison, in the entire 2019, new supply stood at 2.34 lakh units, while 2.61 lakh units were sold that year.
In fact, Anarock estimates that the total sales this year in the top seven cities could even exceed the earlier peak of 2014. The consulting firm expects housing sales of more than 3.6 lakh units in these cities in 2022, compared with 3.43 lakh units sold in 2014.
“2022 will create residential market history in India, having already breached all previous highs and continuing to witness strong sales momentum in the ongoing festive season. Home ownership sentiment retained the vibrancy ushered in by the Covid-19 era, despite interest rate hikes of 190 basis points, increased property rates, and the conspicuous lack of festive season offers and discounts this year,” Anuj Puri, chairman of Anarock Group, said in a statement.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) as well as the National Capital Region (NCR) retained their top rankings in the first nine months of 2022, with about 1,30,450 units collectively sold in these two regions, accounting for 48 per cent of the total sales in the top 7 cities.
Pune, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, which accounted for a 42 per cent cumulative sales share, were among the other major cities that saw strong sales, according to Anarock.
What’s interesting to note is that housing sales have remained strong even as average property prices have risen this year. In the July-September quarter alone, prices rose 6 per cent year-on-year, the best in the past seven years.
“A combination of end-user and investor demand continues to zero in on projects by large and listed developers. These players report consistently high sales and are stepping up new supply infusions into the market,” it said.
According to Anarock, current trends indicate launches in these seven cities will exceed 3.4 lakh units in the full year 2022. Of the 2.65 lakh units launched in the Jan-September period, MMR and Hyderabad saw maximum new launches, accounting for 54 per cent of the total supply.
