Housing prices up 5% in June quarter

Chennai: Housing prices in the top eight cities, on average, moved up 5 per cent in the June quarter, while NCR saw a 10 per cent rise.

Residential prices in the June quarter surpassed pre-pandemic levels, indicating strong demand in the major markets. Prices have been seeing an upward trend, led by rising demand amidst increasing prices of construction materials.

Delhi-NCR saw the highest increase in residential prices at 10 per cent compared to the same quarter of last year. Golf Course road saw the highest price increase of 21 per cent, followed by the Noida Expressway areas.

According to Housing Price-Tracker Report 2022, brought out by realtors' apex body Credai, real estate consultant Colliers India and data analytic firm Liases Foras, for eight major cities—Delhi-NCR, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad—the sales momentum that started in the latter part of last year continued in April-June as well, led by pent-up dem-and and attractive pricing.

Among the top cities, prices in Ahmedabad rose 9 per cent year-on-year to Rs 5,927 per square foot. Bengaluru saw a 4 per cent price appreciation to Rs 7,848 per square foot, while Chennai witnessed only 1 per cent increase to Rs 7,129 per square foot. Housing rates in Hyder-abad stood at Rs 9,218 per square feet, up 8 per cent from the year-ago period.

Prices of residential properties in Kolkata too increased 8 per cent to Rs 6,362 per square foot.

MMR, the costliest real estate market, saw only a 1 per cent rise in housing prices at Rs 19,677 per square foot.

Housing prices in the Delhi-NCR property market saw the highest annual increase of 10 per cent to Rs 7,434 per square foot.

Pune reported a 5 per cent rise in housing prices to Rs 7,681 per square foot during the June quarter.

The prices are based on carpet area.

Residential prices in major cities have moved up compared to the previous quarter as well. Ahmedabad saw the highest quarterly rise of 4 per cent, followed by Bengal-uru and Pune at 3 per cent each. Chennai residential prices remained stagnant sequentially.

"The housing prices have increased across cities, as materials and labour costs continue to remain high. We may see a marginal dip in demand due to increasing interest rates, but I am confident that the sales will continue to grow across segments from September, as we enter the festive season," said Harsh Vardhan Patodia, president of Credai National.

According to Pankaj Kapoor, managing director, Liases Foras, going forward prices will largely remain range-bound.

Colliers India CEO Ramesh Nair said the festive season is likely to keep the market sentiment high, resulting in higher sales despite the hike in interest rates.

Meanwhile, unsold inventory in the June quarter saw a dip in most of the cities despite rising prices and an increase in new launches in the last few quarters. Bengaluru witnessed the steepest yearly drop in unsold inventory at 21 per cent.