Demo impact: Real estate prices are dropping and how!

While Gurugram sees the biggest drop in house prices, housing sales in Bengaluru dropped by 45 per cent followed by Kolkata, a 44 per cent decrease, and Ahmedabad, a 42 per cent decline, reports Raghavendra Kamath.

A year after demonetisation, Gurugram saw an 18 per cent decline in house prices in the first eight months of 2017, the biggest year-on-year drop among top 10 residential markets, said a new study.

'Almost all the cities witnessed a drop (5 to 10 per cent) in weighted average absorbed price after demonetisation as many developers reduced rates and offered freebies during the period worth five to seven per cent, resulting in a discount or correction of up to 15 per cent,' said the report by data analytics firm PropEquity.

Cities such as Gurugram, Kolkata and Chennai witnessed a considerable dip in weighted average absorbed price (month-wise year-over-year comparison) while Gurugram witnessed the launch of lottery projects impacting the price to a considerable extent, it said.

In the resale market, it said prices witnessed a dip of 10 to 15 per cent immediately after demonetisation.

Gurugram witnessed a 10 per cent drop in prices in the resale market in the first eight months of 2017, the highest among top markets.

'Price corrections happened after implementation of goods and services tax, particularly for ready-to-move-in properties and properties nearing completion. Some (4 to 4.5 per cent) recovery has been witnessed in the past two to three months,' it said.

The country's information technology hub, Bengaluru, saw a 45 per cent dip in residential sales in the first eight months of this year, the biggest among the top 10 residential markets in the country.

Bengaluru saw absorption of 20,505 units between January and September as compared to 37,200 units a year ago, said PropEquity.

The average sales drop in the top 10 cities is about 36 per cent, PropEquity said.

Bengaluru was followed by Kolkata, a 44 per cent decrease, and Ahmedabad, a 42 per cent decline. Mumbai saw the least decline at 23 per cent.

In terms of launches, Ahmedabad witnessed an 82 per cent fall in the first eight months of this year, the highest year-on-year fall among the top 10 residential markets in the country, said the study.

Noida saw 76 per cent decline in launches and Bengaluru's launches fell 70 per cent, said the study.

'In the affordable segment,' the report said, 'Gurugram witnessed an increase in supply as lottery projects were launched during January to September.'

Photograph: Reuters