Sales of luxury apartments — priced at over Rs 1.5 crore — stood at 25,680 units across seven major cities during January-June 2022, surpassing yearly sales in the previous three years, according to Anarock.
In the first half of this year, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) accounted for more than half of all luxury housing sales.
According to property expert Anarock, the luxury home market has done "remarkably well" this year, aided by developer discounts and demand from non-resident Indians (NRIs).
As per the data, luxury property sales were 25,680 units in January-June 2022, which is greater than the 21,700 units sold in the entire 2021 calendar year across seven major cities: Delhi-NCR, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata.
Due to the impact of the pandemic, sales of luxury flats plummeted to 8,470 units in 2020, down from 17,740 units in 2019. As per the report, the share of luxury residences in total property sales of 1.84 lakh units across the seven cities increased to 14 percent in the first six months of 2022.
When compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019, the percentage of luxury properties in overall sales was just 7 percent. Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri said it is end-users who are driving luxury house demand.
"Discounts by developers made luxury properties very attractive for these buyers and NRIs have also been snapping up luxury homes in India because of the favourable exchange rate," he informed.
Rising luxury curve
As per Anarock data, luxury housing sales in Delhi-NCR reached 4,160 units between January and June of this year.
In 2019, sales were 1,680 units, 700 in 2020, and 2,520 in 2021. In the first half of 2022, the MMR sold 13,670 units. In 2019, the city saw 10,210 unit sales, followed by 5,840 units in 2020, and 13,720 units in 2021.
During January-June this year, luxury unit sales in Bengaluru added up to 2,430 units. In 2019, sales were 3,030 units, 930 units in 2020, and 1,550 units in 2021. In the first six months of current calendar year, sales of luxury residences in Pune stood at 1,460 units. In Pune, the demand was 500 units in 2019, 170 units in 2020, and 880 units in 2021.
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Between January and June of 2022, 2,420 luxury residences were sold in Hyderabad. Sales in 2019 were 1,660 units, 620 units in 2020, and 1,880 units in 2021. In the first six months of this year, sales of luxury residential residences in Chennai reached 920 units. In 2019, 300 luxury residences were sold in the city, with 120 units sold in 2020 and 660 units sold in 2021.
The city of Kolkata sold 630 premium residential units between January and June of 2022. In 2019, 390 luxury units were sold, followed by 90 in 2020 and 490 in 2021.
Affordable housing
With the growth in the percentage of the luxury housing category in overall sales, Anarock data revealed that the share of affordable housing (units priced below Rs 40 lakh) fell to 31 percent in the first six months of 2022 from 38 percent in the whole year of 2019.
Affordable housing was significantly impacted by the pandemic because the buyers in this category took the biggest economic hit.
Expectations
According to Anarock data from the previous 10 years, total house sales in these seven cities were 3,18,399 units in 2013, 3,42,983 in 2014, 3,08,250 in 2015, 2,39,260 in 2016, 2,11,143 in 2017, 2,48,311 in 2018, 2,61,358 in 2019, 1,38,344 in 2020, and 2,36,516 in 2021.
Sales were 1,84,475 units in the first six months of 2022. As per Anarock, house sales in 2022 are anticipated to exceed pre-pandemic levels.
Unsold housing stocks in these seven cities have reduced to roughly six lakh units from a record of over nine lakh units due to improved demand and regulated supply.
All residential projects (apartments, villas, row-houses, villaments, and independent floors) are included in the data, but excludes plotted development projects.
(With inputs from PTI)
