2016-02-04

6.9 Lakh Units Remain Unsold Across The Country

Source : Hindustan Times

2015 ends with lowest new launches and sales. Unsold inventory to take 2.5 years to exhaust

The current unsold residential units across the country today stand at around 6.9 lakh units and will take over 2.5 years to exhaust, says a half-yearly report by international real estate consultant Knight Frank titled India Real Estate. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of residential and office market performance across seven cities for the period between July–December 2015.

Launches of new homes fell by 21% in 2015 at 2,44,944 units in the primary market of eight major cities – NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

The unsold inventories have declined marginally to 6.91 lakh units from nearly 7.15 lakh units in 2014. Developers would take more than 2.5 years to exhaust this unsold stock, the report says.

The year “2015 for Indian real estate had both good and bad news. While the office market grew from strength to strength, residential did not perform as expected,” says Shishir Baijal, CMD, Knight Frank India.

Residential segment continued to face slowdown with launches at a five year low, despite the festive season. “Sales in 2015 were lower than 2014 levels. Despite the 125 bps rate cut by RBI, demand did not see an uptake. Our outlook for 2016 remains muted. To further revive the demand, it is important to transmit the benefits of the rate cuts to consumers,” Baijal said.

On housing prices, Knight Frank India national director (residential agency) Mudassir Zaidi, says the prices grew by an average 3% last year. However, the rate of growth has come down from 9% to 3% in the last 36 months.

In contrast to the housing segment, Knight Frank India’s executive director (north and capital markets) Rajeev Bairathi, says the office space absorption stood at 40.4 million sq ft, highest since 2012, in six cities – Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.

Delhi-NCR witnessed absorption of 7.4 million sq ft of office space last year. “Supply of quality office space is now a concern with vacancy levels at an eight year low. Rentals have firmed up as a result,” he says. Among sectors driving growth, IT/ITeS continues to lead with startups.

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