Bangalore housing market reports a 45% improvement in sales volume in CYQ3

BENGALURU: Bengaluru’s realty saw significant improvement in property sales and enquiries in the Oct-Dec 2020 quarter, according to Insite - the quarterly real estate report by property portal, 99acres.com. The gradual recovery, post lockdown, was evident with the enquiries reaching pre-COVID levels. However, the average property prices and rental ‘asks’ didn’t alter in the studied period

The city witnessed about 45% hike in sales volume in Oct-Dec 2020 vs Jul-Sep 2020. With the current economic slowdown and job insecurities, it will take a few months for the city to match the pre-COVID sale figures.

Maneesh Upadhyaya, Chief Business Officer, 99acres.com, said, “Amid the turbulence created by COVID-19 pandemic, RBI and GOI announced several measures to aid economic revival. Bringing down home loan interest rates to almost a 15-year-low, stamp duty reductions in Maharashtra and Karnataka, liquidity infusion measures, one-time restructuring of loans and supportive stance for NBFCs, MSMEs, and real estate sector comforted businesses and individuals. With gradual unlocking of cities and news around possible vaccinations, normalcy started returning to the market. This all cumulatively helped push housing demand up and the last quarter of the year recorded a marked improvement in sales against the previous ones.”

Ready or nearing completion inventory garnered maximum traction in Oct-Dec 2020. Micro-markets, such as Whitefield, Sarjapur, Electronic City, Hennur Road and Devanahalli remained popular among buyers within Rs 50 – 75 lakh budget segment. The demand for plotted developments showed buoyancy in the price range of Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore in areas such as Hoskote, Chandapura, Attibelle, Devanahalli and Sarjapur Road.

“Notably, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai reported a 10-45% rise in property sales in Oct-Dec 2020 against Jul-Sep 2020. Improved seller confidence in the market was also evident from a 15 percent rise in owner sale listings posted on 99acres in the same period,” said he.

The delay in completion of under-construction units kept the focus of prospective buyers towards ready homes. Attractive offers, such as EMI-holiday scheme, free car/modular kitchen/gold coins etc., helped in higher sale conversions for 2BHK homes priced at Rs 50 – 75 lakh and 3 BHK homes priced at Rs 75 lakh – 1 cr in the current quarter. In addition, the demand for premium and ultra-premium segment, i.e. homes priced at 1 crore onwards, remained upbeat, QoQ.

About 44 residential projects were launched in the current quarter. Category A developers launched around 10 projects in the price range of Rs 75 lakh onwards in Bangalore. Many builders relied on virtual launches in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. The city recorded fourth largest share in the overall launches across the top eight metro cities in India. The new launches in the southern market captured the premium segment, i.e. homes priced at Rs 1 crore and above.

However, according to the report the complete recovery will depend on how aligned builders get to cater to the popular demands of homebuyers in the city – ready to move inventory priced below Rs 75 lakh. Noticeably, several Category B and C builders have planned to launch new inventory in the next few months. Competitively priced housing units with attractive offers may help developers post higher sale conversions in the ensuing months.