India’s residential sales drop to decade low in just five months

Eight major cities suffered a substantial sales decline from January to June 

From January to June, house sales in India’s eight major cities dropped 54 percent to 59,538 units, the lowest figure in 10 years, reported OutlookMagazine, citing a report from property consultant Knight Frank.

Based on their flagship report titled India Real Estate: H1 2020, the sales volume in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune dropped 27 percent to 49,905 units from January to March.

The sales dipped 84 percent to 9,632 units from April to June since the pandemic-caused lockdown substantially affected the demand. During the second quarter of the year, Chennai, Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad had near-zero sales.

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“After two years of steady demand, the home sales in top eight cities of India declined by a significant 54 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to a decadal low of 59,538 units during H1 2020, with sales mostly concentrated in the first quarter of calendar year,” said Knight Frank India.

As for new home launches, the report revealed a 46 percent descent to 60,489 units from January to June.

The weighted median rates also fell in most cities in the first quarter, with Delhi-NCR, Chennai and Pune witnessing the most price changes at 5.8 percent YoY, 5.5 percent YoY and 5.4 percent YoY, respectively. Around 47 percent of home sales from January to June were below the INR50,000 pricing category.