Housing sales in Q3 2019 saw quarterly decline of 20 pc across top 7 cities in India : Report

The new launches was also down by 34 per cent over the same period – from 69,020 units in Q2 2019 to 45,230 units in Q3 2019.

On a y-o-y basis, housing sales fell by 18 per cent while new launches fell by 13 per cent in Q3 2019 over the corresponding quarter in 2018.

In terms of sales, Hyderabad saw the maximum decline of 26 per cent during the quarter with housing absorption falling from 4,430 units in Q2 2019 to 3,280 units in Q3 2019 while Chennai and Kolkata saw the least sales decline at 12 per cent each, the Consultants Chairman Anuj Puri said in the report.

As on Q3 2019, Chennai recorded overall sales of 2,620 units while Kolkata witnessed sales of 3,120 units.

Property prices largely remained stagnant across cities and the recent Government sops boosted sentiment at onset of festive season; housing sales may increase in upcoming quarters.

The ongoing ‘shraadh’ period - seen as inauspicious in many parts of the country – coupled with the ban on the subvention schemes compounded the quarterly dip and also, above normal and heavy rainfall impacted the number of site visits resulting in longer decision-making cycle, the report said.

MMR saw maximum sales in the quarter at 17,180 units, followed by Bengaluru with 10,500 units.

On the supply front, only Kolkata saw quarterly rise in new launches in Q3 2019, increasing by 19 per cent from 2,640 units in Q2 2019 to 3,130 units in Q3 2019.

On the contrary, NCR saw maximum quarterly decline of 57 per cent - from 13,570 new units in Q2 2019 to 5,790 units in this quarter.

Among categories, affordable housing continued to dominate - accounting for a 41 per cent share of overall new launches (45,230 units) in Q3 2019, followed by 36 per cent in the mid-segment priced between INR 40-80 lakh.

The decline in new supply and housing sales in this quarter was expected as both homebuyers and developers remained cautious and risk-averse. The slew of economy-boosting measures by the government to spur growth across sectors will very likely give the housing sector a leg-up in the festive season and the ensuing quarters, the report said.

Housing is intensely sentiment-driven and we expect the numbers to improve significantly going forward. Most importantly for the sector, we are seeing a gradual revival of investor confidence. The recent corporate tax cut will spur investments from both domestic and foreign investors, the Consultants said.

Overall unsold stock as on Q3 2019 is approximately 6.56 lakh units across the top 7 cities, declining by a meagre 1 per cent against the preceding quarter. However, developers were able to shed their overall unsold stock by at least 5 per cent during the year which stood at 6.87 lakh units back in Q3 2018, the consultants added.

The key cities contributing to Q3 2019's new unit launches included MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region), Pune, Bengaluru and NCR, which together accounted for 83 per cent of the supply additions.

Massive decrese in new launches in NCR by 57 per cent over the previous quarter followed by Hyderabad ( 51%), MMR ( 39% decline), Chennai ( 35%), Kolkata (22%), Pune ( 22 %), Bengaluru ( 15 %), the report added.