Pune housing sales dip by 6% amid Covid second wave: Report

The housing sales in the city in Maharashtra stood at 3,745 units in the previous quarter of January to March, but fell to 3,539 in the second quarter

Owing to the second wave of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic between April to June, Pune and four other cities across India suffered a dip in housing sales in comparison to the previous quarter of January to March 2021, according to a report by JLL India, news agency PTI reported.

Housing sales in Mumbai and Bengaluru grew during the second quarter of 2021 as against the other five cities that JLL India tracks.

JLL India tracks seven Indian cities of Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). As per the latest report, housing sales in Pune dropped by 6 per cent from 3,745 units to 3,539 units. Besides Pune, Chennai also saw a dip of 81 per cent to 600 units from 3,200 units. In Kolkata, the demand fell by 56 per cent from 1,320 units to 578 units. In Hyderabad, the sales declined from 3,709 units to 3,157 units. The housing sales dropped by 55 per cent in Delhi-NCR from 5,448 units to 2,440 units.

However, of the seven cities, Bengaluru and the financial capital of Mumbai, saw a rise in housing sales during the second quarter of the current calendar year. While the sales increased by 47 per cent in Bengaluru from the previous quarter’s 2,382 units to 3,500 units, the same hiked from 5,779 units to 5,821 units.

However, in its latest report the real estate consultant said that housing sales saw an 83 per cent rise on an annual basis from 10,763 units during April to June of last year to 19,635 units during the same quarter this year. Sales of residential properties in the first quarter of this year stood at 25,583 units.

Furthermore, sales of 45,218 residential units were recorded in the first half of 2021 as opposed to 38,204 units of the first half of 2020 – an increase of 18 per cent year-on-year, PTI reported.

JLL India stated that the “sustained levels of residential sales” present clear signs of “demand and buyer confidence coming back to the market.” “The need for secured tangible assets and aspirations to own larger homes as remote working becomes the new norm is driving sales of residential properties across the country," the consultant added, according to the PTI report.

The JLL report also said that residential prices in a majority of India’s residential markets have remained stagnant in the last few years.