NEW DELHI: Housing sales fell 15 per cent sequentially in Q2CY2022 (April-June 2022) in the top 7 cities as a rise in property prices and interest rates weighed on buyers’ sentiments. According to data issued by real estate consultant Anarock, sales declined from nearly 99,550 units in Q1,2022 to nearly 84,930 units in Q2, 2022.
Owning to a slowdown in sales, developers also restricted new supply to nearly 82,150 units in Q2, 2022, as against 89,150 units in Q1 2022 - an 8% fall in the period. Anuj Puri, Chairman - ANAROCK Group, said, “Inflationary pressures on input costs compelled developers to raise property prices in the past few months, and RBI unleashed two rate hikes that swelled up home loan interest rates. These two factors combined to hike the overall property acquisition cost for homebuyers, leading to a dip in housing sales.”
Following two repo rate hikes by the RBI, commercial banks wasted no time in passing this to end consumers by increasing interest in housing loans. Residential property prices across the top 7 cities saw a quarterly increase of 2-3% in Q2, 2022. Annually, prices have risen by between 4 and 7%.
City-wise, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) recorded the highest sales of approx. 25,785 units, lower 11% sequentially, in Q2 2022, followed by NCR with approx. 15,340 units, lower 19% sequentially. At 3,810 units, down 24%, Chennai witnessed the sharpest fall in sales.
Launch-wise, MMR (29,730 units) and Pune (16,560 units) were the only markets to see new launches increased by 26% and 14% q-o-q, respectively. The remaining top 5 cities saw reduced new launches. NCR, at 4,070 units, witnessed a big 56% decline in new launches in Q2CY2022. Dhaval Ajmera, director of Ajmera Realty and Infra India, told The New Indian Express that going forward the rising interest rate may pose a challenge, but that is likely to be offset by the festive season demand and overall positive sentiments.