Residential sales fall 5% in Hyderabad, 2 others

Bengaluru: Unlike earlier, the resilient markets of south India are beginning to feel the heat of the overall residential slowdown in 2019, according to a report. As per Anarock's recent research, the southern cities of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai together saw residential sales decline by five per cent in the first three quarters of 2019 against the corresponding period in 2018.

The western cities of Pune and MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region) raced far ahead and clocked in 33 per cent jump in sales over the same period, the real estate services company said. Even NCR (National Capital Region) in the north recorded 15 per cent yearly rise in housing sales between January to September 2019, it said.

The three southern cities collectively saw residential sales of 61,400 units between January and September 2019 as against 64,420 units sold in the first three quarters of 2018. MMR and Pune, on the contrary, saw the sale of nearly 93,930 units in 2019 against 70,740 units in the corresponding period in 2018.

Concurrently, new launches in the southern cities were also restricted this year and witnessed a mere three per cent yearly growth from 48,410 units in first three quarters of 2018 to 50,070 units this year.

The western markets of MMR and Pune, on the other hand, saw a 65 per cent growth in new supply in a year - from 61,040 units in 2018 to over 1,00,470 units in 2019 (more than double the new supply in the main southern cities). In NCR, new launches rose by 59 per cent in a year from 17,230 units in 2018 to 27,390 units this year.

Amidst declining residential sales and restricted new supply, the southern cities shed unsold stock by 11 per cent during the same period, while their western counterparts largely maintained status quo. Individually, housing sales in Bengaluru saw the maximum drop of eight per cent this year, followed by Hyderabad, which clocked in four per cent fall.

Chennai, on the other hand, saw residential sales rise by 12 per cent during the January to September period in 2019. Hyderabad recorded sale of 13,110 units, while Chennai clocked in sale of 9,040 units in 2019. Nearly 62,550 units were sold this year.

In terms of new supply, both Chennai and Hyderabad recorded yearly drop of 19 per cent and 17 per cent respectively, with the former seeing new supply of nearly 9,580 units and the latter approximately 11,050 new units in 2019.

Interestingly, despite the dull performance of the southern markets in terms of overall residential sales and new launches this year, the 11 per cent yearly decline in unsold stock in the south region gave developers a reprieve.