Housing Price Beat Economic Slowdown

Bangalore: In the April-June quarter of 2012, housing price trend has managed to beat the economic slowdown with rates showing an increasing trend. According to a survey done by the National Housing Bank, Pune has registered the highest increase in the quarter in housing price segment, followed by other two cities like Patna and Bangalore, reports Rajesh Chandramouli of TNN.

Between January-March quarter of 2012 and April-June quarter of 2012, the house prices have increased by 0.7 percent to 10.5 percent in 17 cities out of 20. Whereas, the house prices in cities like Jaipur, Hyderabad and Indore have witnessed a drop, according to NHB's Residex.

In the financial capital Mumbai, the house price index shot upto 3.68 percent, as in Mumbai’s Lower Parel the prices increased by 19 percent and in Pokhran Road, the prices rose by 26 percent. Also, in Delhi-NCR the house prices in Vasant Vihar and Friends Colony increased by 24 percent and in Vasant Kunj, the prices rose by 6 percent. Between the quarter of January and March 2012 and April and June 2012, Delhi house price Residex has witnesses a gain by 24 percent.

In Chennai, the index was up by 1.6 percent, whereas, the areas like Ashok Nagar, T Nagar and Saligramam have seen an increase by 14 percent and localities like Kodambakkam, Guindy and Chromepet witnessed a gain by 11 percent.

Ashish Bhasin, general manager, investment services at Colliers International, a global real estate services organization, cited that "The developers are pushing up prices in the residential segment, but absorption levels are very poor. While it is interesting to see a rise in prices, it is important to see transactions at these elevated levels. There are supply side issues in markets like Mumbai while absorption levels in Chennai and Bangalore continue to remain active," reports Economic Times.

According to the classification devised for evaluation, Housing price trends across India’s prominent cities has been tracked by National Housing Bank’s Residex Index, which is mainly for residential properties in various locations and zones in every city.