Top realty markets of the nation — that were derailed from the recovery path in Q2 2021, hit hard by the second wave of Covid-19 — seem to be getting back on track. Echoing the buoyant sentiment in the realty market, Q3 2021 saw the number of new project launches in the top six cities shoot up by 68% as compared to the previous quarter, according to Square Yards’ India Residential Overview (July-Sept 2021).
As per the report, continuing its good run from the previous quarters, MMR contributed to more than a quarter of the total new launches in Q3, 2021. This was followed by Hyderabad, with a share of 23%. Also, Maharashtra continued to maintain its stance as one of the most critical property markets with Pune and MMR collectively contributing to about 47% to the new supply.
CITY WISE SPLIT FOR NEW LAUNCHES
Resembling the past trends, a major chunk of the new project launches in the top cities was centered around micro-markets offering a concoction of affordable and premium housing apart from being well connected to IT /tech parks.
Multiple projects that were slated for launch last quarter but were held up due to the lockdown, also got delivered during the Jul-Sep 2021 period adding on to the influx of new inventory in the market. Residential preferences of property seekers have undergone a gradual but significant change ever since the pandemic hit. The notion of property ownership has gained prominence even amongst the millennials. This has certainly aided real estate recovery across the country.
Larger configurations are attracting more searches now. As compared to Q2, 2021, units sized between 1000-2000 sq. ft. saw a rise of 7% in searches during the Jul-Sep 2021 quarter while smaller units below 1000 sq. ft. witnessed a drop in searches during the same period. Online searches for homes sized above 2000 sq. ft. also inched up by 5% in Q3, 2021 as compared to the previous quarter.
CITY-WISE SPLIT OF PREFERRED HOME SIZES (SQ. FT.)
However, when it came to the budget, Square Yards search trends for Jul-Sep 2021 indicated that more than half of the property seekers looked for mid and upper mid-housing segments in the budget brackets of Rs 30-60 lakh and Rs 60-100 lakh. Corroborating the online search trends, the supply in the market seemed to be in sync with the home buyers’ aspirations. In alignment with the search trends, Rs 30-60 lakh and Rs 60-100 lakh categories accounted for nearly 50% of the inventory.
TICKET SIZE SPLIT OF SALES
Interestingly, the mid segment homes (priced between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 60 lakh) and upper mid segment homes (priced between Rs 60 lakh and Rs100 lakh) accounted for 36% and 21% of the total sales transactions, respectively, contributing to more than half of the total sales registered in Q3 2021. Nearly 30% traction was also recorded for affordable segment (homes priced at less than Rs 30 lakh), a jump of 12% from the previous quarter. More home buyers seem to be eyeing the affordable and mid income housing segment as a more reliable and secure investment avenue.
Even though the search trends for the Jul-Sep 2021 quarter indicated a healthy preference for luxury properties too (Rs 1-3 crore), conversions did not reflect the same.
With a quarter-on-quarter rise of 65% in the number of transactions, the growing sentiment towards home ownership was amply visible across the top six cities. With the work-from-home culture expected to continue, at least partially, this trend will continue to influence the residential segment.