Housing sales up 24%; new supply down 35% in 9 cities in Jul-Sep: PropTiger

New Delhi: Top nine property markets in the country saw 24 percent increase in housing sales during July-September period, but new launches declined by 35 percent resulting in a fall in unsold apartments, according to News Corp-backed brokerage firm PropTiger.Com.

Housing sales rose to 72,472 units during July-September 2018 from 58,470 units in the year-ago period across nine major cities. New launches dipped to 35,836 units from 54,170 units, while unsold stocks fell by 11 percent to 7,80,424 units during the period under review, PropTiger said in its 'Realty Decoded' report for Q2 of FY19.

These cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurugram (including Bhiwadi, Dharuhera and Sohna), Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai (including Navi Mumbai and Thane), Noida (including Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway) and Pune.

"An increase in sales combined with a fall in launches is good news for the industry. The resulting decrease in inventory is a harbinger of increased activity in the sector over the next 12 months and points towards an upward movement in prices going forward," PropTiger.Com's CEO Dhruv Agarwala told PTI.

Ankur Dhawan Chief Investment Officer of PropTiger said that significant reduction in launches clearly indicates that developers are focusing on the completion of existing projects rather than launching new ones.

As per the data, Noida saw the maximum rise in sales by 59 percent to 6,652 units, while launches fell by one-third to 1,617 units. Higher sales and lower new launches resulted in 20 percent decline in unsold inventories to 69,953 units.

Sales in Mumbai region were up by 22 percent to 22,969 units during the second quarter of this fiscal compared to the year-ago period. Launches fell sharply by 59 percent to 11,603 units. Unsold stocks reduced by 8 percent to 3,01,761 units.

Pune witnessed 50 percent increase in sales to 13,833 units. New launches were down 44 percent in this city to 6,248 units, while unsold stocks fell 12 percent to 1,37,166 units. Old stocks fell by 12 percent to 36,588 units.

Sales in Bengaluru rose by 27 percent to 9,367 units, while launches were up by 30 percent to 4,598 units. The unsold units fell by 14 percent to 75,116 units.

Chennai saw 54 percent rise in sales to 4,781 units. Launches jumped more than two-fold to 2,380 units. Unsold stocks in the city fell by 16 percent to 33,852 units.

The apartment sales in Hyderabad rose by 49 percent to 5,577 units, while launches jumped more than two-times to 3,296 units. Unsold stocks dropped slightly to 38,119 units.

Kolkata witnessed 6 percent rise in sales to 3,915 units and 31 percent increase in launches to 2,927 units. Unsold stock remained flat at 43,803 units.

Housing sales in Gurugram fell by 43 percent to 3,332 units, but launches dipped by 46 percent to 1,839 units. Unsold stocks fell 14 percent to 44,066 units.

Ahmedabad saw 15 percent decline in sales at 2,047 units, while launches fell by 28 percent to 878 units. Unsold inventories fell by 12 percent to 36,588 units.