Flat Sales up 13%, Launches Increase 19% in 2017 Jan. to March

Flat Sales up 13%, Launches Increase 19% in 2017 Jan. to March

Residential property market nudged up from demonetisation woes with housing sales growing 13% for the fourth quarter of 2016-17.

The surge in the volume was primarily driven by Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru, which together accounted for 57% of total sales across top nine cities in the March quarter, said a PropTiger.com report.

 Total house sales increased to 51,700 units in the quarter from 43,500 units in the previous quarter.

“Residential markets seem to have recovered from the demonetisation lows with sales and launches showing healthy levels in Q4 FY17. A large part of the recovery is driven by the affordable housing segment, which has found favour after getting infrastructure status,“ said Anurag Jhanwar, business head (consulting and data insights), PropTiger.com, Housing.com and Makaan.com.

Real estate sector in India saw a revival after demonetisation with sales jumping 13% against a 22% fall in the previous quarter across top nine cities of India, the report said. Mumbai contributed nearly 23% to the total sales, followed by Pune at 18% and Bengaluru at 16%.

Launches of new residential projects across these cities jumped 19%, the hig across these cities jumped 19%, the highest in the past eight quarters. About 51,500 units were launched in the fourth quarter of 2016-17 compared to 43,250 units during the preceding quarter. As far as launches are concerned, Mumbai topped accounting for 26% to total laun ches followed by Hyderabad at 14% and Gurgaon at 13%.

The share of affordable housing launches rose 22% riding on the infrastructure status the industry received.

“We might witness realignment of supply and demand with the implementation of Real Estate Re gulatory Act or RERA. While we might see some turbulence over the next couple of quarters, the long-term outlook remains positive,“ Jhanwar said.

Inventory overhang also eased to 38 months from 46 months in the preceding quarter. Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune together accounted for more than 55% of the unsold inventory.

Noida has highest share of unsold inventory aged above three years; more than 65% of unsold inventory in Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Pune is in the affordable segment.

“Prices remained range-bound in the top nine cities across all the segments, with marginal annual appreciation in the range of 1% to 3%. Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai witnessed a marginal appreciation in the range of 3 to 5% per annum,“ the report said.

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