Housing Sales To See A Festive Revival, Says Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri
Residential property prices across the top seven cities collectively rose by 23% annually in September quarter, according to an Anarock Research report.
Anarock Group Chairman Anuj Puri expects residential sales to experience a bounceback in the festive quarter.
According to a recent report by Anarock Research, housing sales have dropped 11% year-on-year in the July–September quarter in the top seven cities in India, the first such in nearly four years.
Talking to NDTV Profit, Puri said that heavy monsoons, shraddh, and a bit of an election overhang were the key reasons behind this decline.
“This quarter is going to be crucial because this is a festival quarter. We are hoping there will be a bounceback from the drop that has been experienced in the last quarter,” he said.
However, Puri also flagged some concerns regarding the demand spike for residential properties.
“One concern is that because the launches have been more lacklustre in comparison with demand, I don’t want this demand-supply balance to tilt in favour of demand,” he said.
That is where, according to the Anarock chairman, developers realise that demand is far greater than supply and prices start to increase.
“This then impacts the sentiment and the cycle starts to show nervousness,” he added.
Puri also hoped that investor speculators would not get into the residential property market.
“There are some markets where we have seen speculators entering because of the price rise. I hope that that phenomenon does not penetrate across India,” Puri said.
The third concern, Puri mentioned, is the consolidation among the developers. “India needs more developers and supply,” he said.
In its report, Anarock further said that residential property prices across the top seven cities collectively rose by 23% annually in third quarter of current year 2024, with Hyderabad clocking the highest rate of growth at 32%.
Puri explained that developers are looking at the price rise in line with the inflation rate.
However, he mentioned that the moment developers sell sufficient inventory, they start to jack up the prices rapidly.
“They are confident that sales will be able to cover the cost of construction at that particular development,” the Anarock top executive said.
“Until such time that they are not able to cover the cost of the development, they are not very proactive on increasing the price. This comes into notice when the project is completed and there is unsold completed inventory, which is where we see the double-digit percentage hike,” he added.
