Home sales in the first nine months of 2024 rose 9 per cent on year to over 2.6 lakh units led by higher priced homes, while office leasing at 53.7 million square feet was 27 per cent higher on year, according to Knight Frank India, which released the data today.

Despite monthly blips, residential demand has been on an upward trajectory, the growth coming mostly from the sale of residences priced above ₹1 crore, while sales of home below that price point has shown a decrease, the data showed.

In the case of the office sector, leasing demand is being led by India-facing businesses, followed by Global Capability Centres.

Residential demand

In the third quarter of 2024, housing sales rose across the board in all seven cities covered by the survey, with the exception of the National Capital Region where there was a fall. On a pan-India basis the growth was 5 per cent at 87,108 units.

Mumbai, which accounts for half of real estate market in the country, saw the highest sales volume during the quarter at 24,222 units, and the highest growth was in Kolkata. Among the larger markets, Bengaluru saw a robust growth of 11 per cent.

Sales of homes above ₹1 crore, saw a 41 per cent growth in the quarter. Around 85 per cent of the homes sold in NCR were in this category and in Bengaluru 64 per cent.

Sales of houses priced up to ₹50 lakh continued its declining trend, an indicator of problems with affordability in that segment. The market share of this segment is now at 24 per cent compared to 29 per cent year ago. The only markets where this segment showed a growth was Mumbai and Kolkata.

At 90,479 units launches rose 6 per cent in the quarter. The Mumbai and Pune markets contributed the most to the overall growth, while Mumbai saw the maximum number of launches. The NCR, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata saw a fall in launches.

Led by the premium segment prices showed a growth across all markets, with Bengaluru seeing the most growth at 10 per cent.

Overall unsold inventory saw a slight uptick of 3 per cent, led by the premium segment, with the average quarters to sell at 5.8.

Office demand

GCCs accounted for 37 per cent of total leasing, followed by India facing businesses. According to the data, close to half of the space taken up by GCCs were concentrated in Bengaluru.

Rent growth in the quarter ranged from 2-10 per cent, with the most increase being in Chennai on an annual basis. This is the ninth consecutive quarter where rent growth has been stable or positive for all markets. Rents were more or less stable sequentially.

Vacancies on a pan-India basis were at 14.9 per cent.

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