Second Covid wave hit housing sales too, demand falls by 58% in second quarter of 2021

Hyderabad is the frontrunner in overall housing launches with approximately 8,850 units launched in Q2 2021 - followed by Mumbai Metropolitan Region with 6,880 and Bengaluru with 6,690 units.
Image for representational purpose only. ( Express Illustration)
Image for representational purpose only. ( Express Illustration)

NEW DELHI: Owing to the second Covid-19 wave and regional lockdowns, housing sales in Q2 2021 (April-June period) stood at approximately 24,570 units across the top seven cities as against 58,290 units in the preceding quarter (Q1 2021), dropping by 58 per cent quarter-on-quarter, according to data released by real estate consultancy firm Anarock. 

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune led the residential market between April and June 2021 with a 46 per cent share of the total sales.

However, sales in Q2 2021 are up by 93 per cent Year-on-Year as only 12,740 units were sold in the corresponding quarter of 2020 when the country was under a strict lockdown. 

Meanwhile, despite localised lockdowns and restrictions due to the second wave, developers launched new projects (mostly digitally) and put approximately 36,260 units on the market across the top seven cities. Hyderabad is the frontrunner in overall housing launches with approximately 8,850 units launched in Q2 2021 - followed by MMR with 6,880 and Bengaluru with 6,690 units.

Anuj Puri, Chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants, said that the second COVID-19 wave definitely impacted overall residential property market activity in the second quarter this year. However,  the localised lockdowns and restrictions did not dent activity as much as the complete nationwide lockdown last year, he added. 

According to Puri, listed and leading developers whose sales share against the smaller and unorganized ones increased further in the quarter amid the second wave – from 40:60 previously to 43:57 now. Back in FY2017, the ratio was 17:83. The impact of the second wave was felt more intensely by smaller and unorganised players. 

Going ahead, Puri said, "Restrictions are now easing across cities and the vaccination drive is gathering momentum. We, therefore, anticipate residential demand to see steady growth in the upcoming quarter. The previously-noted structural shift in housing demand continues - many current homeowners seek to upgrade to larger homes and the previously purchase-averse millennials remain very active property buyers."

Unsold inventory across the top seven cities increased by 2 per cent in Q2 2021 over Q1 2021 since new supply outpaced overall absorption numbers in this quarter, according to the data. Unsold inventory increased from 6,41,860 units in Q1 2021 to approx. 6,53,540 units in Q2 2021. 
 
Due to the second COVID-19 wave, average residential property prices across the top seven cities remained stagnant in Q2 2021 against the preceding quarter. On a yearly basis, Bengaluru and NCR saw the average residential prices rise by 2 per cent, while MMR, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai saw average property prices increase by 1 per cent. Kolkata saw no yearly change in average property prices.

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