Housing sales record 7% surge across metros

Increased demand for flats that are ready to move in or nearing completion helped housing sales to rise by 7 per cent during 2018 to nearly 2.15 lakh units across nine major cities, according to data analytic firm PropEquity. New launches fell by 22 per cent to 1.46 lakh units during 2018 against 1.87 lakh units in the previous year. The nine cities tracked by PropEquity included Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thane and Chennai. In 2018, the market witnessed over 20 per cent fall in new launches in top nine Indian cities as developers focused on executing and selling previously launched projects. This also led to unsold inventory falling by over 10 per cent; and these top nine cities sold 7.2 per cent more units in 2018 versus 2017, even with fewer launched projects. Founder and MD, PropEquity, Samir Jasuja said that the realty sector is currently on an upswing, primarily for ready-to-move housing units or projects that are nearing competition due to the low-risk factors attached to them. Bengaluru saw 19 per rise in sales to 38,525 units during 2018; in Chennai sales grew by 40 per cent to 14,920 units; in Mumbai it went up by 9 per cent at 22,413 units; 16 per cent in Pune at 49,706 units; and 14 per cent in Kolkata at 14,166 units.