Home sales in top 7 cities halve in 2020 as Bengaluru, NCR lead decline

New housing supply down 46%, unsold inventory shrinks 2%

Residential sales in the top seven cities of the country fell almost 50 per cent on a yearly basis in 2020, according to a new study. The top seven cities saw housing sales of around 138,350 units till now this year against 261,370 units in 2019, a 47 per cent decline on a yearly basis, a report by Anarock Property Consultants said.

Residential markets such as National Capital Region (NCR) and Bengaluru saw over 50 per cent drop in home sales in 2020, the report said.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) saw housing sales of about 44,320 units in 2020, reducing yearly by 45 per cent. Last year, it saw total sales of nearly 80,870 units. In Bengaluru, housing sales touched 24,910 units in 2020 against 50,450 units in 2019 — a decline of over 51 per cent . The NCR witnessed housing sales of 23,210 units in 2020 compared to 46,920 units a year ago. The region saw its sales plummet 51 per cent.

New housing supply in 2020 in the seven cities declined by 46 per cent against the preceding year – from about 2.37 lakh units in 2019 to around 1.28 lakh units in 2020.

MMR and Pune were the showstoppers in overall residential activity in 2020.

On the supply front, the top seven cities added 52,820 units in Q4 of 2020 against 51,850 units in Q4 of 2019 – increasing by 2 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Hyderabad outpaced other cities and added 12,820 units in the quarter, followed by MMR with over 11,910 new units.

Due to increased new launches across the cities, unsold inventory declined by two per cent  on a yearly basis – from over 6.48 lakh units in Q4 of 2019 to over 6.38 lakh units in Q4 of 2020.

However, compared to the peak levels of 2016 – when unsold stock stood at a high of  7.91 lakh units in the top seven cities – it declined by a significant 19 per cent.

Annually, the top seven cities saw about. 1,27,970 new units launched in the entire 2020 against 2,36,570 units in 2019 – reducing by 46 per cent. Hyderabad was the only city to see new launches increase during the year. The cities, which saw maximum new unit launches in 2020 were MMR, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, which together accounted for 76 per cent of the addition.

Anuj Puri, chairman of Anarock Property Consultants, said 2020 has been an unprecedented year due to Covid-19, causing all-round upheaval. “However, the residential segment was quick to pick up the momentum in the last two quarters of 2020 on the back of growing home ownership sentiment. This demand was further accelerated by ongoing discounts and offers, low interest rates and limited-period stamp duty cuts in states such as Maharashtra.”