News: Housing sales sees slight recovery, but long way to go for normalcy-07-10-2020
https://www.hindustantimes.com/gurugram/housing-sales-sees-slight-recovery-but-long-way-to-go-for-normalcy/story-c0l2BfbGy68wJdyCipnzVJ.html
The recently released report by Anarock also says that the top seven cities in the country saw the sales of 29,520 housing units between July and September of 2020 as compared to 12,730 units in the previous three months.
Real estate markets that have been reeling under the effects of Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdown have started showing green shoots of recovery in the third quarter of the calendar year (July, August and September). Housing sales and new launch figures, as per a report released by real estate consultancy Anarock, were better in the third quarter as compared to previous three months of the lockdown.
The recently released report by Anarock also says that the top seven cities in the country saw the sales of 29,520 housing units between July and September of 2020 as compared to 12,730 units in the previous three months. However, in comparison to last year, the sales are still quite muted and experts admitted that it would take a few more quarters before things become normal.
As per data, saleS in July, August and September, 2019, stood at 55,080 units across the top seven markets of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune.
The report said that Delhi-NCR saw the sale of 52,00 units from July to September this year as against 9830 units sold in the same period in 2019. The supply of new residential units, however, increased during this period in NCR and stood at 6,810 units as compared to 5,790 units during the same period of 2019.
Compared to last year, the sale of residential units from January to September stood at 15,450 units in 2020, which is less than half of 36,210 units that were sold in the same period in 2019.
Realtors and brokers based in Gurugram said that they received more queries in the last few months and more sales were converted as buyers finally decided to take the plunge. Prashant Solomon, managing director, Chintels, said, “End users and serious buyers with capacity to invest are coming back to the market and this augurs well for the industry,” he said.
The report further said that despite the steep rise in Covid-19 cases, periodic local lockdowns imposed across states and the ‘shradh’ period during which many people avoid new purchases, sales of residential units and new launches have seen reasonable momentum. The April-June quarter was more of an outlier with most activity at a standstill, it added.
Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock property consultants, said, “MMR, Bengaluru, NCR and Pune together accounted for 84 percent sales in the July-Sept quarter. MMR saw maximum sales of 9,200 units, followed by Bengaluru with 5,400 units, NCR with 5,200 units and Pune with 4,850 units.”
City-based developers said that incentives offered by them and rock-bottom home loan interest rates are a major attraction for homebuyers. “The figures indicate that sales during the festive season are likely to be higher as the sentiment is improving with opening of the economy and people are returning to their jobs in cities,” said Pradeep Aggarwal, CMD, Signature Developers. He said that a large number of new buyers are those who stayed in rented properties and now want to buy their own houses.
