Home sales in Tier II and III cities fall in April

With the arrival of the second Covid wave in April, the numbers fell by almost 50 per cent.

After a pick-up in sales of apartments in Tier II and Tier III cities in the March quarter of 2021, the transactions dropped in April as many states imposed local lockdowns to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Housing sales in these cities had jumped 19 per cent to 41,270 units in the March quarter on a year-on-year basis, according to data from PropEquity, a real estate-focused data analytics firm.

The sales in April this year stood at 5,980 units, almost 2.5 times higher than April 2020.

However, the research firm said the numbers were not comparable, given the total lockdown in April last year.

The April 2021 numbers, it said, were significantly down compared to the average monthly sales of 13,757 units in the March quarter.

“Tier II and III cities recorded a 19 per cent increase in the sales numbers.

"The increase can mainly be attributed to work from home policies, low interest rates, attractive payment plans, and so on," said Samir Jasuja, founder and managing director at PropEquity.

With the arrival of the second Covid wave in April, the numbers fell by almost 50 per cent, Jasuja said, adding, “We expect housing numbers to improve as the country moves towards the unlock phase and gains momentum on the vaccination drive in the coming months.”

The Tier II and III cities tracked were Agra, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bhiwadi, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Gandhi Nagar, Goa, Guntur, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mangalore, Mohali, Mysore, Nagpur, and others.

In Q1CY2021, home sales in Tier II and III cities rose 6 per cent on a sequential basis. In the December quarter of CY2020, these cities reported sales of 38,906 units, translating into monthly sales of 12,969 units.

Big developers said they had seen growth in home sales in these cities in the March quarter, though sales have dipped since then.

DLF, the country's largest developer, said it had seen a "phenomenal" increase in enquiries and sales from micro markets like Indore, Panchkula, Kasauli, Lucknow, and Kochi in Q3 and Q4 of FY21.

Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters