Finding A Home Becomes Tougher: Affordable Housing Market Shrinks, Says Report

Share of affordable homes — priced up to Rs 45 lakh each — in total housing sales more than halved to 22 per cent during January-March across top eight cities amid strong demand for luxury flats, according to a new report.

PropTiger said in its quarterly report ‘Real Insight Residential January-March 2024’, that housing sales grew by 41 per cent to 1,20,640 units during January-March 2024 across the top eight cities from 85,840 units in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Also Read: Will Home Prices Be Affordable Again? Housing Market Predictions For 2024

PropTiger.com is part of REA India, which also owns proptech platforms Housing.com and Makaan.com.

Key insights of the study;

The share of affordable homes in total housing sales stood at 48 per cent in the January-March period of the 2023 calendar year.

In the total sales of 1,20,640 units during January-March, the share of homes, priced less than Rs 25 lakh each, was 5 per cent.

In the same period last year, the share of this low-cost housing category in total sales was 15 per cent.

The share of homes, priced Rs 25-45 lakh each, was 17 per cent during January-March 2024 as against 23 per cent share in the corresponding period of the previous year.

High-end properties see demand

There has been a remarkable shift post the pandemic towards high-end properties, the report said.

The share of properties priced Rs 1 crore and above has increased to a significant 37 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, significantly higher than 24 per cent in the same period of 2023, the consultant observed.

Affordability shrinks?

As per the data, the share of homes, priced Rs 45-75 lakh, in total sales remained flat at 26 per cent during the period under review.

The share of homes, costing Rs 75 lakh-1 crore each, in the total sales increased to 15 per cent in January-March this year from 12 per cent share in the year-ago period.

The top eight cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi- NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune.

Delhi-NCR includes Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Greater Noida, Noida and Gurugram.

MMR includes Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.

Value of sales

As per the data, housing sales in value terms rose to Rs 1,10,880 crore in the January-March period of this calendar year from Rs 66,155 crore in the year-ago period.

In terms of area, housing sales surged 63 per cent to 162 million square feet in the first quarter of this calendar year from 99 million square feet in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Vikas Wadhawan, group CFO of REA India and business head of PropTiger.com, said, “India’s housing market is having a dream run. Sales of residential properties in the top eight primary markets have been growing at a rapid pace, buoyed by robust economic growth, steadfast mortgage rates, and an escalating desire for home ownership.”