31% decrease seen in time taken to sell active inventory in Mumbai, top 6 cities.
DEMAND & SUPPLY BALANCE STABILISES MARKET
Mumbai: Real estate developers in India are leveraging the strong housing demand to clear their existing stocks, reducing the overhang of un sold properties that had been a concern in previous years. A healthier balance between demand and supply has also stabilised the market. Residential property markets in the top seven cities Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata have witnessed a significant 31% de crease in the time taken to sell active unsold housing inventory showed a JLL analysis, In the March quarter, the time taken to liquidate inventory dropped to 22 months from 32 months at the end of 2019, driven primarily by an exponential surge in housing demand. This assessment is based on the average sales rate observed over the last eight quarters.
In the five years since 2019, the residential sector has witnessed a consistent growth in housing launches, with al- most a million units launched during this period. As a result, the actively selling un- sold housing inventory reached around 468,000 units by March end, markinga24% in-crease since December 2019. However, despite this surge in unsold inventory there has been a remarkable reduction in the estimated time required to sell these properties.
“Interestingly, both the affordably priced (apartments priced up to ₹75 lakh) and premium (apartments priced between 1.5 crore and ₹3 crore) segments have seen a sharp decline of 43% each in the time needed to sell their respective unsold inventory levels,” said Samantak Das, chief economist and head re- search & REIS, India, JLL.
While the fall in the affordable housing segment was due to its reducing share in launches over the last four years, the premium segment saw this decline despite a substantial jump in the segment’s sha- re in annual launches to 22% in 2023 from 2% in 2019.
According to him, time needed to sell the unsold inventory in the premium segment has dropped from 51 months in 2019 to 29 months in the first quarter of 2024, showcasing the strong sales momentum in this segment. Apartments belonging to ticket size category of 13 crore and above have also witnessed an 11% reduction in time to sell during the same time.
“Time taken to liquidate the housing stock has declined across the majority of the cities like Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune between December 2019 and Q1 2034. Delhi NCR has recorded the sharpest decline in terms of months to sell, coming down from 48 months to Just 14 months,” said Siva Krishnan, senior MD (Chennai & Coimbatore). head-residential services, India, JLL. According to Im, this can e attributed robust sales 1 the premium and luxurygment. With anticipated omentum in e coming quters, the months to sell for the available inventory are likely to decline further in the near to medium term. Among all price categories, the premium segment still takes the longest time to sell its unsold inventory with an average of 29 months as of March end.
However, despite this surge in unsold inventory, there has been a remarkable reduction in the estimated time required to sell these properties.
However, despite this longer selling period, the premium segment has experienced significant reduction in inventory liquidation time due to its relatively faster sales velocity:. This segment has emerged as the top performer, driven by strong buyer Interest in larger homes with improved support amenities.
Source- The Economic Times
