Housing sales down 5% in Jan-Mar 2019 on changes in GST rates, rules: PropTiger

New Delhi: Housing sales dipped by 5 percent to 75,706 units in nine major cities during January-March period because of transition in GST rates, according to a report by property brokerage firm PropTiger.

The company, which is part of News Corp-backed Elara Technologies that also owns Housing.Com and Makaan.Com, Monday released its 'Real Insight Report' for Q4 2018-19 that tracks housing sales and new launches in nine major cities -- Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Gurugram and Noida.

"Housing sales in India's nine key property markets declined 5 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) and new project launches fell 32 percent annually during Q4 2018-19," the report said, adding that the unsold housing stock numbers declined by 10 percent.

PropTiger attributed the decline in home sales numbers to changes in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) transition rules.

In contrast to PropTiger report, real estate consultant Anarock recently said housing sales rose by 58 percent to 78,520 units in seven major cities during January- March period of 2019.

Data analytics firm PropEquity said sales saw a 5 percent rise at 56,146 units during January-March 2019 over the year-ago quarter in the nine major cities.

As per the PropTiger data, housing sales rose maximum in Hyderabad by 26 percent at 7,059 units in the January-March quarter of 2019 from 5,618 units in the year-ago period.

Gurugram witnessed 10 percent rise in sales at 5,764 units from 5,220 units in the corresponding period of the previous year. Sales in Kolkata were up by 8 percent at 3,623 units.

Pune saw 5 percent rise in sales at 14,348 units from 13,712 units during the period under the review, while Mumbai reported 4 percent increase in sales at 23,718 units.

However, housing sales declined by 23 percent in Bengaluru to 8,402 units. Chennai, too, witnessed 13 percent dip in sales at 4,197 units. Ahmedabad reported 10 percent dip in sales at 4,739 units.

The maximum fall in was in Noida, with sales dropping by 50 percent at 3,856 units.

"While there might not be any significant improvement in new launch and home sales numbers in the first quarter of 2019-20, things may start to change after the results of the Lok Sabha elections are announced.

"In fact, as more clarity emerges pertaining to GST issues, these numbers might see improvement in the quarters that follow. Property rates would also see an upwards movement in the times to come," Elara Technologies Group Chief Operating Officer Mani Rangarajan said.

In late February, the GST Council decided to cut GST rate on affordable homes to 1 percent from earlier 8 percent. The GST on under-construction flats, which are not under the affordable housing segment, was reduced to 5 percent from 12 percent earlier.

The new GST rates were made effective from April 1. The developers were also denied input tax credit .