Housing sales in major cities see 9-year high: Knight Frank

Housing sales rose 60% annually in January-June this year across eight major cities. At 1,58,705 units, this was the highest half-yearly demand in nine years. It was mainly driven by lower base effect as well as mortgage rates, according to Knight Frank India. Housing sales stood at 99,416 units in the first six months of 2021, the consultant said in its 17th edition of half-yearly report ‘India Real Estate: Residential and Office Market H1 2022’. The report highlighted that the residential sector recorded a nine-year high sales volume in January-June 2022. The previous high was recorded in the first half of 2013, when sales were at 1,85,577 units. Factors cited by the consultant for the increase in housing sales include homebuyers' need to upgrade primary lifestyle, low interest rates on home loans, and lower home prices compared to pre-pandemic levels. The renewed need for home ownership sparked by the Covid pandemic is also driving sales. Housing prices increased across all markets in the range of 39 per cent year-on-year (YoY). This also marks H1 2022 as a period in which prices have grown in YoY terms across all markets for the first time since the second half of 2015.Also Read: RBI rate hikes, higher costs fail to deter home buyersHousing market shows YoY increase of 3-9%