Year 2021 Was a Fantastic Year for the Housing Sector
Anuj Puri, Chairman - ANAROCK Group, says, “Despite the pandemic, 2021 was a fantastic year for the Indian housing sector. More or less an equal number of homes were launched and sold. The fact that launches were back to pre-COVID levels is very significant, and housing sales fell short of 2019 by a mere 10%. Of the four quarters, Q4 2021 was by far the best, with housing sales in the top 7 cities attaining a new high of approx. 90,860 units in Q4 2021. This was the highest quarterly sales performance since 2015." A tremendous rise in homeownership aspirations was aptly supported by developer discounts and offers, government incentives like Maharashtra's stamp duty cut, and lenders maintaining decadal-low interest rates. Extrapolating on the performance in 2021, 2022 will see very satisfactory growth as long as the coronavirus pandemic remains in check in India," says Puri. "Various trends will shape the sector in 2022 - Grade A developers will corner more market share, and sales will come back to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. However, input cost pressure and supply chain issues may induce a 5-8% increase in property prices. End-users will remain the dominant market force, and peripheral areas of the larger cities will continue to see both supply and demand traction. Y-o-Y, the top 7 cities saw approx. 2,36,700 new units launched in entire 2021, against 1,28,000 units in 2020 – a significant increase of 85%, which put new launches back on par with the pre-pandemic 2019 levels. The key cities contributing to launches in 2021 were MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region), Hyderabad, Pune, and NCR - together accounting for 76% of supply additions. Altogether, the top 7 cities saw approx. 2,36,530 housing units sold in the whole of 2021, against 1,38,350 units in 2020 - a hefty increase of 71%. Increased launches and overall absorption in the top 7 cities in 2021, when compared to 2020, resulted in minor changes in available inventory. However, compared to 2019, there has been a 2% reduction in available inventory by the end of 2021. Data indicates that the top 7 cities altogether have total unsold stock of approx. 6.38 lakh units as of 2021-end. Among the top 7 cities, MMR and NCR saw a yearly decline of 10% and 5%, respectively. Average residential property prices across the top cities increased by 3-5% in 2021 compared to 2020. Bengaluru and MMR witnessed the highest price increase of 5%, while Chennai and Kolkata witnessed a 3% increase.
Tags : Interviews Anuj Puri Housing sales Stamp Duty growth Property prices Anarock Group Top Cities homeownership Indian Housing