Residential Unit Sales Drop 40% In 4 Years

From observing residential market trends over the past five years, it clearly emerges that 2013-14 was the last year where things still looked vibrant for the sector, as per a note from ANAROCK Property Consultants.

Housing sales began plummeting after that, and there is no clear revival in sight as yet. A quick trends assessment for the past 5 years reveals that during 2013-2014, an average of 3.3 lakh units were sold annually. Thereafter, with too many project launches facing off with decreasing demand, unsold inventory began piling up across the top 7 cities of India.

Residential unit sales have dropped by around 40 percent from the average of 2013-2014 to 2017.

Housing sales dropped significantly in the 2015-2016 period. On an average, only 2.7 lakh units were sold across top 7 cities of India during 2015-16, recording a significant drop of 17 percent from the average sales of 2013-14.

“When demonetisation hit the nation during the 4th quarter of 2016, the situation turned from grave to savage. Immediately after the demonetization impact, the real estate sector was battered with RERA and GST which severely shook it up. In 2017, only around 2 lakh units were sold across the top 7 cities of India,” says Anuj Puri, Chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants.

Fateful findings

Residential unit sales have dropped by around 40 percent from the average of 2013-2014 to 2017.

During the same period, larger cities such as NCR and MMR, which were heavily driven by investor activity, recorded a massive drop of 68 percent and 27 percent respectively in average sales

Bangalore and Chennai, also on investors’ radar, saw average sales decline by 17 percent and 45 percent respectively

Pune, which has also witnessed exponential growth due to significant interest from investors and NRIs who purchase houses only for financial gains, also witnessed a decline of 29 percent in average sales of 2013-14 over 2017