Bangalore: House sales in major cities declined in the April-June period of the current fiscal year due to rising house prices and high base effect.

According to real estate consultancy Anarock, residential sales in Q2 2024 stood at 1,20,340 units, down 8 percent from the previous quarter. During January-March, the country sold 1,30,170 units across the top seven cities, which are National Capital Region (NCR), MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region), Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.

Of these top cities, MMR and Pune accounted for over 52 percent of the total sales, with over 62,685 total units sold in these cities during April-June. NCR is the only city to see a quarterly increase of 6 percent in Q2 2024 compared to the previous quarter.

“The quarterly decline in home sales is essentially due to the record high recorded in the previous quarter, when over 1.30 lakh units were sold. More importantly, this decline is also due to the significant increase in property prices over the past year, which in turn has prompted many investors to take a breather,” Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Group, said in a press release.

Data shows average house prices rose 7 percent from the previous quarter, while annual growth in the seven largest cities jumped 25 percent.

“NCR saw the highest quarterly jump of 10 percent in Q2 2024, while Hyderabad saw the highest annual jump of 38 percent in average house prices. However, if prices are kept under control going forward, home sales may not be affected too much in the coming quarters,” Puri added.

Meanwhile, the number of new homes coming onto the market continued to increase as property developers came up with new properties to meet high demand.

The top 7 cities added 1,17,170 new homes in Q2 2024, compared to about 1,10,870 homes in Q1 2024, an increase of 6 percent from the previous quarter.

The top cities contributing to new launches in Q2 were MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region), NCR, Pune and Bengaluru, which together accounted for 82 percent of the inventory added.

In terms of prices, average residential real estate prices in the top 7 cities increased by 4-10 percent in Q2 2024 compared to Q1 2024, thanks to a high number of home sales.

NCR recorded the highest quarterly jump of 10 percent with an average price of Rs 6,800 per sft. at the end of Q2. Hyderabad recorded the highest annual jump of 39 percent in average residential prices in Q2 2024.