Heady apartment sales witnessed in Mumbai Metropolitan Region

The MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region) has posted the highest ever sales volumes over the last 7 years for the period between April-June, 2017. 15, 848 apartments were sold between April and June this year and out of these volumes, Mumbai accounted for close to 5, 265 units as per reports from Liases Foras, the well-known research and ratings firm. Mumbai offered 69% of the total new housing supply in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and the central suburbs are the biggest contributors in this regard according to the report. The weighted average price remained the same over the last 7 years and is still stagnant. This is due to the joint impact of new housing supply in the affordable category and also due to the correction in high and speculative market prices. Inventory levels are still high in spite of a surge in sales according to experts who feel that 51 months will still be needed to successfully sell off present inventory. The market requires more efficiency according to industry observers. The unsold inventory in Greater Mumbai and MMR stands at 1.05 lakh and 2.67 lakh units respectively. Sales have gone up by 6% in the top 8 tier-I Indian cities on a quarter-on-quarter basis. This comes after the increase of 21% seen in the last quarter. After demonetization, the market witnessed growth of 28% with regard to sales. MMR accounted for a healthy 24% of total sales in Tier 1 cities and Chennai was the only market in the country to witness a decline of 3%. Sales of properties in the affordable segment contributed 17% to total sales volumes in comparison to 16% in the earlier quarter. The MMR witnessed maximum sales of properties in the affordable segment at 24% and was followed by Pune at 22%. Property sales in the segment of Rs.50 lakh-1 crore went up slightly by 1% while unsold stocks, which stand at 9.5 lakh units today across Tier 1 cities, declined slightly by -0.3% for this quarter. Pune witnessed a decline of -4% and was followed by Bangalore and Ahmedabad with -3% alike. The Chennai and Hyderabad markets witnessed an increase in unsold stocks to the tune of 9% and 4% respectively.