Despite unusual pressures on the housing market, residential real estate is on a high this festive season. 

ANAROCK Property Consultants sold 1,805 homes across top 9 Indian cities (NCR, MMR, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow) and Dubai in the months of September and October this year. Last year, the firm sold 1,016 units in the corresponding period.

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants says, “Our sales in these two months saw a 78% y-o-y jump over the same period in 2019. Much can be attributed to the multiple schemes and offers available across cities this year – particularly the limited-period stamp duty cuts in Maharashtra. In many cities, these incentives add up to an overall financial benefit of 5-15% of the property cost. The rock-bottom home loan interest rates have also played a role in India, while NRIs seem to be making the most of the reduced property prices in Dubai.”

“City-wise, MMR remains our most active market, with nearly 573 units sold in this two-months period amounting to an annual jump of 116%”, says Puri. “Interestingly, our sales in Chennai saw an almost five-fold yearly jump with 223 homes sold in Sept.-Oct. 2020, against just 45 units in the same period last year. Most sales are by end-users looking to buy and own homes in a marketplace radically transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Housing Sales in 2020 May Rebound >50% of 2019-levels

At an industry level, ANAROCK expects the top 7 cities to cumulatively record a 35% jump in housing sales in the ongoing festive quarter (Oct.-Dec.) against the July to September period (Q3 2020). If this pans out, housing sales in the whole of CY2020 will have rebounded to more than 50% of the overall sales clocked in CY2019 - approx. 2,61,500 units were sold in 2019 across the top 7 cities. This is significantly higher than previous predictions.

Q-o-Q Prediction in 2020 City-wise 

Comparing housing sales on q-o-q basis in the whole of 2020, ANAROCK anticipates overall industry-level housing sales across the top 7 cities to rebound to nearly 90% of the pre-COVID-19 levels (Q1 2020) in Q4 2020 (Oct-Dec). 

• In MMR and Pune, housing sales in Q4 2020 can rebound to nearly 90% of the pre-COVID-19 levels (of Q1 2020). MMR saw total sales of nearly 13,900 units in Q1 2020 while Pune recorded sales of nearly 7,200 units.  
• In Chennai, housing sales in Q4 2020 can rebound to around 89% of Q1 2020. Approx. 2,200 units were sold in the city in Q1 2020.
• Kolkata could see housing sales to rebound to 86% of the pre-COVID-19 quarter. Approx. 2,450 units were sold in the Q1 2020 quarter.
• In both Bangalore and NCR, ANAROCK anticipates housing sales in Q4 2020 to come back to 84% of pre-COVID-19 quarter of Q1 2020. Approx. 8,630 units were sold in Bangalore in Q1 2020 while NCR saw sales of nearly 8,150 units.  
• In Hyderabad, we may see sales rebound to nearly 77% of the pre-COVID-19 levels. 2,680 units were sold in Q1 2020.