7 cities to see 35% jump in housing sales this festival quarter: Anarock

Despite spiralling Covid-19 cases in the second-quarter (Q2) of 2020, residential sales rose significantly.

This gives sufficient reason to expect a significant increase during the upcoming festival season, which will prompt many fence-sitters to avail themselves of the best deals on offer, said Santhosh Kumar, Vice-Chairman – Anarock Property Consultants.

“Developers have pulled out all the stops to attract buyers, announcing schemes for the festive season — many of which result in an actual reduction in the cost of acquisition,” he added.

Pointing out to previous year trends, Kumar said, “Housing sales across top cities in the festive quarter (October-December) mostly saw an uptick — anywhere between 5-10 per cent — over the preceding quarter. This is largely because the festive season is considered most auspicious for property buying in India and developers also roll out various schemes and offers to fuel the fervour.”

The years 2016 and 2017 were in marked contrast where sales actually reduced sequentially due to demonetisation, RERA and GST.

According to Kumar, “This year, the top seven cities can cumulatively witness a 35 per cent jump in housing sales in the ongoing festive quarter (October-December) against the July to September period.”

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“Moreover, the third-quarter (Q3) 2020 base period saw nearly 29,520 units sold across the top seven cities - much lower than the pre-Covid-19 quarter (Q1 2020) which saw nearly 45,200 homes sold. This effectively results in larger scope for growth. In all, housing sales are all set to rebound to 90 percent of the pre-Covid-19 levels (Q1 2020),” Kumar added.

City-wise trend

In MMR, housing sales in Q3 2020 stood at 9,200 units. The ongoing October-December period may see anywhere between 33-36 per cent rise in sales with buyers looking to make the most of the limited period offers of reduced stamp duty charges, developer discounts and freebies and the prevailing low home loan interest rates.

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In Hyderabad, a 20-24 per cent jump in housing sales is expected in Q4 2020 against the preceding quarter, where nearly 1,650 units were sold.

In Bengaluru, housing sales in Q3 2020 stood at 5,400 units. At least 30-35 per cent rise in these numbers in the October-December period is expected.

In NCR, a between 27-31 per cent jump in sales in the festival season is likey. As many as 5,200 units were sold in Q3 2020.

Pune may see housing sales rise by 34 pe rcent in Q4 2020 as against Q3 2020 when sales stood at 4,850 units.

Chennai may see a 20-25 per cent rise in sales in Q4 2020 as against Q3 2020 when sales stood at 1,600 units

Kolkata is likely to see up to 30 per cent jump in housing sales in the festive quarter. The previous quarter recorded sales of nearly 1,620 units.