Bengaluru among top three in housing launches

Technology capital Bengaluru has occupied the third slot in the number of residential units launched and sold during the third quarter of 2018.

The city witnessed sale of 16,250 units in the third quarter ended September this year compared with 14,800 units in the second quarter, a jump of 10% sequentially. However, Bengaluru witnessed 18% drop in new launches during the quarter at 7,175 new homes as compared with 8,775 units in the previous quarter.

On a year-on-year basis, the new launches grew 82% compared with third quarter a year ago. During the same quarter a year ago, as many as 3,940 new houses were launched, according to data revealed by independent property consultant ANAROCK Property Consultants.

However, Bengaluru is the only city which has maximum supply of units (nearly 55%) in the mid segment (Rs 40-80 lakh) other than lower-budget housing launches.

The real estate market across the top 7 cities in the third quarter stayed subdued. The quarter saw a meagre 3% increase in the overall fresh housing supply as against the preceding quarter. These new launches were largely dominated by the lower-budget segment (below Rs 40 lakh) with nearly 42% of the total new supply. About 33% launches were in the mid segment between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 80 lakh, and the remaining 25% in the luxury and ultra-luxury segments.

"Buyers and developers alike are pinning their hopes on the ongoing festive season for better deals and faster deal velocity respectively. Lower-budget range housing continues to keep the momentum going. This segment saw a nearly 65% increase in supply in Q3 2018 as against the same period last year," said Anuj Puri, Chairman of ANAROCK Property Consultants.

While, Kolkata saw the launch of nearly 4,050 units in the third quarter, which is a significant rise of 59% from the second quarter, and an increase of more than 500% from Q3 2017, MMR saw the launch of approximately 19,850 units, a rise of 42% from Q2 2018.
Hyderabad added 4,150 units, a quarterly decline of 25%, and Chennai saw new supply increasing to 4,850 units, a rise of 15% from the previous quarter.

NCR contributed only 8% of the total new supply with 4,200 units. This marked a decline of 50% of units from the previous quarter. The drop in Q3 2018 was because of developers’ focus on completing previously launched projects, as also the ongoing crisis of stalled or delayed projects in NCR. However, there may be new launches during the ongoing festive season, ANAROCK said.

“In terms of housing purchases during the third quarter of this year, all cities together witnessed an increase of 9% over the previous quarter. MMR and Pune together led the pack with 27% rise in deals compared to the previous quarter. This is attributable to the aggressive implementation of MahaRERA," said Puri.

When it comes to sales, MMR saw the highest jump in sales this quarter, with sales increasing by 16% (from 15,750 units in Q2 2018 to 18,200 units in Q3 2018), Pune sales rose by 11% (from 8,375 units in Q2 2018 to 9,300 units in Q3 2018). Chennai sales increased by 8% over the previous quarter with 2,925 units, and Kolkata sales increased by 7% (from 4,025 units in Q2 2018 to 4,300 units in Q3 2018).

With only a slight improvement in sales and new launches, the overall unsold inventory declined by just 2% (from 7.02 lakh units in Q2 2018 to 6.87 lakh units in Q3 2018), according to ANAROCK.