Key points :
- Housing sales hit, declines almost 52% in the top 8 cities
- Covid-19 related lockdown and disruption have almost halted construction activity for the last few months.
- The biggest housing sale has declined in the cities, like Hyderabad, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Delhi, in the second quarter of 2020 in comparison to Q2 of 2019.
The coronavirus pandemic has badly hit the Indian housing market. With the already wounded economy and loss of jobs, home sales have dropped to 52 percent in the first half of 2020, which may further go down.
The real estate market was feeling the heat of slowdown much before the pandemic hit. Quarterly data shows a gradual decrease in sales from October 2018 (Q3) and it plunged into negative in Q3 of 2019. However, the downtrend in new launches is also shown from April 2019. But In the last six months, new launches have sharply declined – nearly 65 percent – in eight cities including Delhi NCR, MMR (Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane), Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Home sales declined across the big cities in India.
Neither end-users nor investors are showing interest in the property market. According to real estate brokerage firm, PropTiger.com, on average housing sales have dropped 52 percent in the first half of 2020 than the same period last year.
Average home prices have fallen by up to 35 percent from 2019 levels in NCR. In Gurgaon, one of the biggest real estate markets of NCR, sellers have so far held back, and only a few distress deals have been executed.
Covid-19 related lockdown and disruption have almost halted construction activity for the last few months.
The housing sector was in bad shape before the pandemic. Many projects are delayed, and buyers have approached the court for grievances. Pandemic has only added to the troubles of the wounded industry, and its revival is only possible with an economic recovery.
