NEW DELHI: Owing to Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, housing sales between April-June (Q2 2020) in India's top 7 cities fell by 72 per cent to just 12,740 units as against 45,200 units sold in Q1 2020. On year-on-year basis, sales declined by 81 per cent– from 68,600 units in Q2 2019 to just 12,720 units in Q2 2020.

Not only demand, Covid-19 significantly impacted supply. New launches fell by 98 per cent y-o-y during 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.

Interestingly, limited new launches helped unsold inventory in the top 6 cities to shrink by 5 per cent 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.

Anuj Puri, Chairman - ANAROCK Property Consultants said, "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. 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.”

Region wise, no new launches took place in MMR, NCR, Hyderabad and Chennai in Q2 2020. 

Bengaluru added approximately 590 units (in 2 projects) in Q2 2020, witnessing a yearly decline of 95 per cent. Pune added around 750 units (in only one project) in Q2 2020 compared to 10,700 units in Q2 2019. Kolkata added only one project consisting of approximately 50 units in Q2 2020, declining by 98 per cent on y-o-y basis.  

Recently in a separate report, Anarock had said that coronavirus outbreak is expected to delay the delivery of 4.66 lakh reality units by 2020-end in the top seven cities. 4.12 lakh units which were likely to be completed in 2021 will probably also get delayed. Construction activity had zeroed down in April and May owing to the lockdown and now the developers are facing acute shortage or migrant labourers to complete the project. 

To push sales and provide support to the sector, the government and the RBI came up several schemes such as cutting down repo rates and asking state RERAs to give six month extension on previously committed timelines. Union Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal even asked builders to cut prices and clear unsold inventory.