Real estate consulting firm Knight Frank India has seen a uptick in India’s residential realty sector in July-September quarter this year.
As per the consulting firm, 33,403 units were sold in this quarter which was 3.5 times more than the 9,632 units recorded in the April-June quarter.
New home launches in the top eight cities rose five-fold to 31,106 units in the July September quarter, compared to 5,584 units in the preceding quarter.
The consulting firm’s data shows five out of the eight top cities have recovered more than half of the lost ground in terms of sales. Kolkata and Chennai have shown higher growth compared to the quarterly average in 2019.
The labour crunch, seen in the earlier part of the lockdown, has also eased as labour is returning to work.
One reason of course is the falling home loan interest rates. Maharashtra state government has slashed stamp duty, the transaction tax collection by the government on property purchases on a temporary basis. It has helped sales in Mumbai and Pune.
The average housing prices declined by 2-7% year-on-year during July-September in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad on lower demand amid the Covid-19 pandemic. But Bangalore and Hyderabad bucked the trend – prices increased 3% and 4%, respectively, when compared with the year-ago period.
The office space market in India also showed recovery this quarter, following the easing of lockdowns and the reopening of some offices. Office leasing across India’s top eight cities in the July-September quarter surged 80% over the April-June quarter, while new office completion during the same period soared 126% sequentially.
The total office transactions of the eight markets in the third quarter of 2020 have improved and reached 33% of the 2019 quarterly average level. Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai recorded higher recovery in the September quarter with transactions reaching the level of 57%, 43% and 42%, respectively, of the 2019 quarterly average.
