Hyderabad sees steep drop in new residential units

Developers launched only about 589 residential units in Q4 as compared with 5,225 units came in for sale in the year ago period

Of all the major cities in the country, Hyderabad witnessed the sharpest fall in the launch of new residential units during the fourth quarter ending March, 2013, as compared with the new launches in the corresponding quarter last year.

According to a report released by the real estate consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield, developers launched only about 589 residential units during the three-month period as compared with 5,225 units came in for sale in the year ago period.

On the other hand, the new launches in Bangalore and Pune rose by more than 100 per cent to 11,622 from 4,757 and to 6,658 from 3,184 in the corresponding previous quarter respectively.

Kolkata saw a marginal rise at 1,552 units as compared with 1,430 units while, other Chennai, National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai and Ahmedabad witnessed a slowdown with varying degrees, according to the report.

"The city witnessed a lull in units launched in the first quarter of this year after substantial project launches during the last quarter of 2012 as the market awaited the absorption of inventories," said the report.

Interestingly, Hyderabad was the only city to launch luxury units, about 53, among the rest during the fourth quarter. However, the report said in the coming months improvement in economic conditions coupled with infrastructure developments would drive the demand, according to the report.