Housing sales across India’s top nine cities continued to soften in the January–March quarter of 2026, slipping below the 1 lakh unit mark for the first time in 18 quarters. The decline was largely attributed to lower supply in most key markets.

According to NSE-listed real estate data analytics company PropEquity, housing sales fell 13 per cent year-on-year and 6% quarter-on-quarter to 98,761 units in Q1 2026. New launches also witnessed a sharper drop, declining 19 per cent YoY and 8 per cent QoQ to 92,411 units during the quarter.

Bengaluru emerged as the highest-selling housing market among the top nine cities, recording sales of 17,991 units. The city posted 16 per cent QoQ growth and 3 per cent YoY growth, making it the only market to lead both sales and supply during the quarter.

Delhi-NCR recorded sales of 12,141 units, registering 13 per cent YoY growth, though sales declined marginally by 1% on a quarterly basis. All other major cities witnessed a decline in sales compared to both the previous quarter and the year-ago period.

“Housing sales continued to moderate in the first quarter of 2026 with Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru emerging as outliers. This reduction is on account of low supply across most cities. Close to 22,000 lesser units were supplied in Q1 2026 as compared to the same period last year,” said Samir Jasuja, Founder & CEO, PropEquity.

On the supply side, Delhi-NCR recorded the highest growth among the top nine cities with 17,227 units launched in Q1 2026. The region saw 89 per cent YoY and 8 per cent QoQ growth in launches, emerging as the second-largest housing supply market.

Bengaluru regained the top position in launches with 17,782 units, posting 10 per cent QoQ growth but witnessing a 24 per cent YoY decline. Chennai recorded 2,909 units launched, showing 12 per cent QoQ growth but a steep 62 per cent YoY decline. Other cities also reported reduced launch activity.

“While Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru saw similar level of housing supply in Q1, the former witnessed lesser absorption as compared to the latter as high-ticket launches impacted the sales in Delhi-NCR. Also, it is for the first time post-covid that Delhi-NCR has seen more supply than Pune, Hyderabad and Thane - the traditional high supply markets,” Jasuja added.