Housing sales in eight major cities of the country declined 54 per cent during January-June period to 59,538 units the lowest in 10 years as demand crashed after the imposition of the coronavirus pandemic-led lockdown late March, according to property consultant Knight Frank.
In its flagship report - India Real Estate: H1 2020 - released on Thursday, Knight Frank India said that housing sales fell 27 per cent in January-March to 49,905 units across eight major cities - Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. The sales plunged 84 per cent in April-June to 9,632 units as the lockdown affected demanded badly. Delhi-NCR, Chennai and Hyderabad had near-zero sales during the second quarter of the calendar year.
"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," Knight Frank India said.
Housing sales in H1 of 2019 stood at 1,29,285 units. New home launches reported a drop of 46 per cent to 60,489 units during January-June period of this year.
The weighted average prices have also fallen across most cities in H1 2020 with NCR, Pune and Chennai saw the most correction at 5.8 per cent YoY, 5.4 per cent YoY and 5.5 per cent YoY, respectively. Information technology sector driven markets of Hyderabad and Bengaluru witnessed price growth of 6.9 per cent and 3.3 per cent during the same period. -- PTI