Housing sales in 2020 likely to rebound to more than 50% of 2019: Report | Economic Times

New Delhi: Housing sales in 2020 is likely to rebounded to more than 50% of the overall sales clocked in 2019, according to property consultants Anarock.Anarock sold 1805 homes in September-October period, an 78% increase from previous year when the firm sold1,016 homes across top 9 cities in India and Dubai.According to Anarock, despite COVID-19, organic buyer demand boosted sales amidst ongoing festive offers and discounts, government incentives (particularly stamp duty cut in Maharashtra) & prevailing low home loan rates.“Our sales in these two months saw a 78% y-o-y jump over the same period in 2019. Much can be attributed to the multiple schemes and offers available across cities this year – particularly the limited-period stamp duty cuts in Maharashtra,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants. “In many cities, these incentives add up to an overall financial benefit of 5-15% of the property cost. The rock-bottom home loan interest rates have also played a role in India, while NRIs seem to be making the most of the reduced property prices in Dubai,” said Puri. At an industry level, ANAROCK expects the top 7 cities to cumulatively record a 35% jump in housing sales in the ongoing festive quarter (Oct- Dec) against the July to September period (Q3 2020). “City-wise, MMR remains our most active market, with nearly 573 units sold in this two-months period amounting to an annual jump of 116%”, said Puri. “Interestingly, our sales in Chennai saw an almost five-fold yearly jump with 223 homes sold in Sept-Oct 2020, against just 45 units in the same period last year. Most sales are by end-users looking to buy and own homes in a marketplace radically transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Puri added.