Cheer in the realty sector as home sales increase by 6%

Cheer in the realty sector as home sales increase by 6%

Aided by stagnant pricing, discounts from builders and launch of new projects at lower prices led to increased Home sales by 6% in the January-March quarter from that a year ago across eight top cities of India, according to a report by property research firm Liases Foras.

For the first time since January March 2014, the total sales across eight tier 1cities crossed 60,000 units. “The gap between prices of apartments and affordability has reduced to some extent, which has helped sales. It is an end-user driven market today,” said Pankaj Kapoor, managing director of Liases Foras.

Real estate Sales in the National Capital Region were up 33% and in Mumbai 12%, while in Bengaluru sales dropped 18%. Ahmedabad went up 32% in property transactions, whereas Chennai and Hyderabad witnessed a 25 per cent and 20% growth respectively. Kolkata was up by 14% while sales in Pune declined by 25%.

Although Prices remained flat in Mumbai, NCR saw a correction of 3% from a year ago, helping developers push their stock. Ahmedabad is the only city to witness double-digit growth in prices at 12%, the report observed.

Sales of houses under Rs 25 lakh increased 46% in the past one year while sales in the Rs 25-50 lakh bracket grew 13%, signifying greater affordability of homes.

“With prices remaining stagnant over the past two years across  markets coupled with falling interest rates on home loans, more people have started buying homes,” said Getamber Anand, national president of the Confederation of  Real Estate Developers Associations of India.

“The economy is booming; money is being spent on infrastructure. If there are good rains this year, the impact on home sales would be even higher,” said Niranjan Hiranandani of the Mumbai based Hiranandani Group.

Pankaj Kapoor of Liases Foras said that, if builders in Mumbai are able to spruce property prices by a further 15 – 20%, home sales could perk up to three times of the number today.