Home Sales Down By 50 Percent in NCR and Mumbai in Q1 2012

Bangalore: With volatile economic condition and increasing property prices, real estate is gradually becoming expensive in India. According to property research and analytics firm PropEquity, home sales in Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Delhi-NCR witnessed slump of 50 percent in the first quarter of 2012 (January-March 2012), whereas, Bangalore’s real estate market witnessed 18 percent drop in sales which is slightly better than Mumbai and Delhi-NCR, reports Ravi Teja Sharma of ET Bureau.

In Delhi-NCR region, the rate of absorption in this present quarter is 15,104 units which is less compared to 35,420 units in the same quarter last year, whereas, the total supply was 107,731 residential units in the same quarter. And, in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the rate of absorption dropped to 11,473 units compared to 27,676 units in the same quarter last year and the total supply of residential units were 89,461 in the quarter.

Samir Jasuja, chief executive officer of PropEquity stated that "The take-up rates in key micro-markets have fallen significantly. In the coming quarter, there would be strong pressures on many micro-markets and we expect inventory overhang to increase and absorption could continue to slow down.”

Mumbai and Gurgaon have already witnessed slump in absorptions with Mumbai Metropolitan Region experiencing drop at 58 percent and Delhi-NCR at 57 percent.

Accoding to Jasuja, the price correction may happen in the range of 5-20 percent, mainly in micro-markets of NCR, MMR and Hyderabad, if this trend is likely to continue.

However, Bangalore real estate market has seen slightly better side as there was good demand of units from end-user and also less number of new inventories launched in the city. The rate of absorption dropped by 18 percent in Bangalore, which is 7704 units this quarter compared to 9,410 units in the same period last year.