Report: Housing sales dip in Chennai among cities

Chennai: With the decline in new launches around 72 per cent from 15,700 units in 2016 to 4,400 units in 2017, Chennai's residential real estate market was the worst hit during 2017, said a report released by Anarock property consultants.

Apart from Chennai market hitting lowest, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad also recorded declines of 67, 64 and 57 percent respectively in terms of new launches, according to the report. Mumbai, NCR also had witnessed a drop of 45 and 33 percent in 2017.

The report also attributed the real estate decline to series disruptive reforms, coupled with mounting unsold inventory and stringent RERA norms.

Meanwhile, the seven major cities in the country had witnessed an annual decline of almost 50 percent in new launches and 15 percent in sales, the sector was shattered in 2017, the report added.

Anuj Puri, Chairman of Anarock property consultants said that the industry had transitioned rapidly into a transparent and buyer-friendly one. “With only end-users left to drive the market and investors more or less evaporating completely, developers throttled back on new launches to allow the market more scope to absorb the already staggering unsold inventory,” he added.

 The report also pointed out that Chennai had recorded a sales dip up to 26 percent, which is highest among other cities. During 2016, the city had recorded sales of 17,800 units, whereas, in 2017, the city has recorded sales of 13,200 residential units.

 Meanwhile, the report opined that the mayhem in the sector and subsequent reforms would eliminate unscrupulous players from the real estate ecosystem.