Sales in residential sector reached to 65% of the pre-Covid level: Report

New Delhi: Sales in the residential sector has reached to 65% of the pre-covid level as developers focused on launching campaign offering discounts, according to a report by property consultant Anarock.

The report said that 29,520 units were sold in Q3 2020, which is 65% of the Q1 2020. NCR, MMR, Bengaluru, and Pune together accounted for 84% of the sales in the quarter. Also, new launches in the top 7 cities witnessed 32,530 nee launches against 41,220 in Q1 2020, reaching nearly 79% of the pre-COVID-19 quarter.

“Reduced stamp duty charges (in Maharashtra) topped with developers’ discounts and freebies are now a major attraction for several prospective homebuyers in the prevailing scenario. This gives a somewhat positive indicator for the upcoming festive season quarter (Oct-Dec) where we anticipate housing sales to recover and reach almost the pre-COVID-19 levels,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants.

Interestingly, Hyderabad, Kolkata and NCR saw their new supply increase by 45%, 24% and 10% respectively during the period. Affordable and mid segments (priced up to INR 80 Lakh) comprised over 72% share (approx. 23,290 units) of the total new supply in the July-Sept period.

Realty developer M3M said that it has delivered eight real estate projects in three months having sales value of Rs 3200 crore, and 90% of these projects are already sold out.

“The four residential projects located in sector 68, Gurugram are amongst our key offerings that have been conceptualized with the vision of a plush lifestyle. With the announcement of these four residential condos, we have added 1000 apartments to our ‘ready-to-move-in’ inventory,” said Pankaj Bansal, Director, M3M Group.

According to Anarock, unsold inventory in top cities shrunk by nearly 3% on yearly basis – from 6.56 lakh units back in Q3 2019 to 6.36 lakh units in Q3 2020. It reduced by 1% between Q1 2020 and the third quarter.
On q-o-q basis, the jump has been massive for both new launches and sales as Apr-Jun was more of an outlier quarter with majority activity being grounded.

“The residential sector has been witnessing positive market sentiments since the unlocking phase. There might be a change in the consumer behavior pattern that has come along with the ambiguity created by the pandemic but the sector has been successful in regaining the investors and end consumers’ confidence,” said Amarjit Bakshi, CMD, Central Park.
“The sector has also witnessed renewed interest from NRIs in Q3 2020 which outlines the strong prospects of the market. With the festive season ahead and improved market sentiments, we expect the housing segment to emerge strongly in the coming months,” Bakshi added.

Of the 29,520 units sold in Q3 2020, nearly 9,200 units were sold in MMR as against 13,910 units in Q1 2020, which is 66% of the pre-pandemic quarter. Sales in Bengaluru and NCR were 5,400 units and 5,200 units respectively in Q3 2020 – rebounding by 63% and 64% of the pre-Covid levels.