Housing Sales Down 1% In Jan-Jun Across Top 8 Cities; Gross Office Leasing Up 3%: Knight Frank

New Delhi: Housing sales fell marginally by 1 per cent during January-June period this year, while gross leasing of office space rose 3 per cent across eight major cities, according to Knight Frank India. Housing prices increased 2.10 per cent year-on-year. Releasing its bi-annual report for India's top eight realty market on Tuesday, real estate consultant Knight Frank India said housing sales have dipped 1 per cent to 1,56,640 units in January-June from 1,58,705 units in the year-ago period.

In contrast, gross office space leasing increased 3 per cent to 26.1 million square feet from 25.3 million square feet. Commenting on the findings, Knight Frank India CMD Shishir Baijal told reporters that housing and office markets across major cities have remained steady in the first half of this calendar year despite rise in interest rates on home loans and global headwinds.

On housing market, he said a strong positive consumer sentiment was observed and sales have remained above 1.5 lakh units consistently in the six- month period. Baijal noted that the share of sale of luxury homes in the overall housing sales has risen. The housing demand is driven by mid and premium segment while the share of affordable housing in sales has come down.

As per the Knight Frank data, housing sales in Mumbai fell 8 per cent to 40,798 units in January-June from 44,200 units in the year-ago period. However, the gross office space leasing in the financial capital rose 9 per cent to 3.2 million square feet from 3 million square feet.

In Delhi-NCR, housing sales were up 3 per cent to 30,114 units from 29,101 units. Office space leasing in NCR increased 24 per cent to 5.1 million square feet from 4.1 million square feet. Sales of residential properties in Bengaluru were down 2 per cent to 26,247 units from 26,677 units. But, office leasing in Bengaluru fell 10 per cent to 7 million square feet from 7.7 million square feet.

In Pune, housing sales fell 1 per cent to 21,670 units from 21,797 units. Leasing of office space fell 30 per cent to 2.3 million square feet from 3.3 million square feet. Housing sales in Chennai rose 3 per cent to 7,150 units from 6,951 units. Interestingly, the leasing of office space in Chennai jumped over two-fold to 4.5 million square feet from 2.2 million square feet.

In Hyderabad, housing sales increased 5 per cent to 15,355 units from 14,693 units. In contrast, the leasing of office space in Hyderabad declined 8 per cent to 2.9 million square feet from 3.2 million square feet. Sales of residential properties in Kolkata went up 3 per cent to 7,324 units from 7,090 units.

But, office demand fell 3 per cent to 0.6 million square feet. In Ahmedabad, housing sales decreased 3 per cent to 7,982 units in January-June period this year from 8,197 units in the year-ago period. Office space leasing dropped sharply by 59 per cent to 0.5 million square feet in the first half of this year from 1.3 million square feet in the corresponding period of 2022.

Commenting on the Delhi-NCR market, Mohit Jain, Managing Director, Krisumi Corporation, said, sales have increased on strong demand for properties across all price bracket. "Strong appetite to own housing properties is driving sales... With interest rates having stabilized and expected to start falling by the end of this year, sales momentum is expected to continue," Jain added.

On office market, Knight Frank highlighted that leasing of office space by co-working operators is at a record high of 6.8 million square feet, its share of transactions at a record high of 26 per cent