This week in real estate: Sales dip, prices crawl

Here’s what is really, really worrying though: the Reserve Bank’s HPI data comes even as Knight Frank reported a few months ago, that India recorded a 1.6 percent year-on-year decline in home prices. The property consultancy had the Indian housing market falling 12 places, from Rank 43 to 55, in the Global Home Price Index.

You can’t help but feel that at this point in time, Indian real estate is a buyer’s market, with investors unable to get bang for their buck. Days ago, property consultant Anarock reported that housing sales for this quarter (April-June) stood at 24,750 units. This was a quarter-on-quarter drop of 58 percent, owing to the COVID second wave.

However, some good news — if there’s any of that in Indian real estate these days — is that 24,750 units were a 93 percent jump over last year’s April-June numbers although that’s hardly a comparison since 2020 has largely been considered a wash-out year, barring some post-lockdown pent-up demand.

These worrying numbers notwithstanding, real estate stocks had a decent week. DLF, Brigade Enterprises and Prestige saw their share price increase between 1.34 percent and 5.80 percent in the last five days. Newly listed Macrotech Developers (erstwhile Lodha Group) also ended the week in the green, albeit at a marginal 0.63 percent.