Price hikes, global unrest hit housing market in Q1 2025
Less than 100,000 residential units were sold in the January-March quarter, with most cities covered in the analysis showing a fall in numbers.
While Bengaluru and Chennai bucked this trend, Hyderabad, MMR and Pune witnessed the sharpest sales drop. (Image: Freepik)
Housing sales across India’s eight prime residential markets in the January-March period fell 19% over last year, as rising property prices and slowing growth forced buyers to exercise caution, says the latest report by PropTiger.com.
According to the Real Insight Residential: Q1 2025 report (January–March 2025), new home supply also dropped 10% in the first quarter of the calendar year, as developers adjusted expectations amid a dramatic price appreciation of the past couple of years, which made housing unaffordable for a large section of buyers in the world’s most populous country.
“The huge spike in prices had already started to show its adverse impact on sales. With a global trade war now bringing new uncertainty, it is only natural for buyers to adopt a cautious approach to investment, particularly in something so big as real estate,” said Dhruv Agarwala, Group Chief Executive Officer, Housing.com and PropTiger.com.
The sales decline could have been a lot sharper if not for the 25-basis-point rate cut announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in February, Agarwala added.
Most urban Indians rely on housing loans to make a house purchase. Repo rate is the benchmark that determines the interest they would pay on this credit. A downward change in this rate is a certain measure to boost buyer confidence.
Sales fall across cities barring Bengaluru, Chennai
According to the report, less than 100,000 residential units were sold in the January-March quarter, with most cities covered in the analysis showing a fall in numbers. While Bengaluru and Chennai bucked this trend, Hyderabad, MMR and Pune witnessed the sharpest sales drop.
Signs of a market correction were also visible through a dip in new supply, with five of the eight cities showing an annual decline in launches. Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad registered the sharpest fall in numbers, the report showed.
NOTE: Housing markets covered in the report are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, NCR (Gurugram, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad), MMR (Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane) and Pune.
