Housing Sales & New Launches Drop in Q2 2020

“A massive drop in both new launches and housing sales were, of course, expected on the back of a complete lockdown for most of this quarter.” Anuj Puri, Chairman - ANAROCK Property Consultants   Housing sales and new launches have plunged to a new low across India’s top 7 cities in Q2 2020. Latest ANAROCK research reveals that residential sales in the quarter plummeted by 81% on yearly basis in these cities – from 68,600 units in Q2 2019 to just 12,720 units in Q2 2020. Concurrently, new launches fell by 98% in the period with merely 1,390 units getting launched this quarter. New launches account for just four projects - two in Bengaluru and one each in Pune and Kolkata. If we consider q-o-q data trends, housing sales dropped by 72% in Q2 2020 against Q1 2020 while new launches fell by 97%. Interestingly, limited new launches helped unsold inventory in the top 6 cities to shrink by 5% on a y-o-y basis – from more than 6.34 lakh units in Q2 2019, it dropped to just over 6 lakh units in Q2 2020. Interestingly, MMR – one of the most COVID-19-affected cities – witnessed maximum housing sales of nearly 3,620 units among all cities, followed by Bengaluru with approx. 2,990 units. Technology adoption has played a big role in housing sales of late, with many developers now strengthening their digital sales capabilities.   Q2 2020 New Launch Overview: Amidst the global pandemic, the top 7 cities saw only 1,390 units launched in Q2 2020, against nearly 69,000 units in the corresponding period of 2019 - a decline of 98%. On a quarterly basis, new launches fell by nearly 97%. Nearly 41,220 units were launched in Q1 2020.

• In Q2 2020, only four projects were launched - two in Bengaluru and one each in Pune and Kolkata.
• No new launches in MMR, NCR, Hyderabad & Chennai in Q2 2020
• Bengaluru added approx. 590 units (in 2 projects) in Q2 2020, witnessing a yearly decline of 95% and quarterly by 93%.
• Pune added approx. 750 units (in only one project) in Q2 2020 compared to 10,700 units in Q2 2019 and 7,800 units in Q1 2020 - a drop of 93% and 90% respectively.
• Kolkata added only one project consisting of approx. 50 units in Q2 2020, declining by 98% on y-o-y basis and 95% over Q1 2020.

  Q2 2020 Overall Sales Overview: Approx. 12,740 units were sold in Q2 2020 as against 68,600 units in Q2 2019 - a decline of 81%. In the quarter of Q1 2020, housing sales stood at 45,200 units, thus falling by 72% q-o-q. NCR, MMR, Bengaluru, and Pune together accounted for 85% of total sales in Q2 2020.

• MMR and NCR witnessed significantly lower sales as compared to previous year and the preceding quarter. Sales in NCR and MMR decreased by 83% each in Q2 2020 against Q2 2019 and 74% each over the previous quarter. Current quarter sales were recorded at approx. 2,100 and 3,620 units, respectively.
• Sales in Hyderabad decreased by 85% in a year – from 4,430 units in Q2 2019 to 660 units in Q2 2020. On a quarterly basis, sales declined by 75%. The city saw sales of approx. 2,680 in Q1 2020.
• Pune and Kolkata witnessed a 79% yearly decline each, and a almost 70% quarterly decrease each in Q2 2020.
• 2,990 units were sold in Bengaluru in Q2 2020, against 13,150 units a year ago and 8,630 units in the preceding quarter of Q1 2020. The y-o-y decline was 77% and Q-o-Q was 65%.

Overall Unsold Inventory till Q2 2020 - Negligible new supply in Q2 2020 in the top 6 cities led to a reasonable decline of nearly 5% in the unsold stock on a yearly basis. The unsold stock in Q2 2019 was more than 6.34 lakh units, which has now reduced to approx. 6 lakh units as on Q2 2020. As against the previous quarter, the unsold stock decline stood at 2%.