Prices of residential properties showed an increasing trend in five cities and a decline in 10 cities in January-March quarter 2012, compared with the previous quarter a year ago.
According to National Housing Bank's (NHB) Residex report, the index witnessed moderation/stable property prices in a majority of the cities over the previous quarter, except in Jaipur and Hyderabad, where it witnessed significant increases.
Kochi, Bangalore and Patna witnessed significant corrections.
Rising Trend
Residential housing prices in five cities have shown a rise in prices in the quarter ended March 2012.
The maximum increase was observed in Jaipur (25.6 per cent) followed by Hyderabad (8.9 per cent), Chennai (2.8 per cent), Kolkata (0.8 per cent) and Delhi (0.5 per cent).
In the case of the new five cities now covered under the Residex, the prices of the residential properties have shown increasing trends in comparison to the prices in the base year 2007. The maximum increase was observed in Indore (108 per cent) followed by Vijayawada (84 per cent), Ludhiana (63 per cent), Bhubaneswar (61 per cent) and Guwahati (57 per cent) in comparison to base year prices in 2007.
SETBACK IN 10 CITIES
At least 10 cities have shown decline in prices over the previous quarter with maximum decline observed in Kochi (-12 per cent) followed by Bangalore (-8.1 per cent), Patna (-7.9 per cent), Surat (-5.3 per cent), Pune (-1.9 per cent), Ahmedabad (-1.8 per cent), Mumbai (1.6 per cent), Kolkata (-0.5 per cent), Lucknow (-0.6 per cent) and Faridabad (-0.5 per cent).
NHB Residex for October-December 2011 quarter covered 15 cities. From January 2012, NHB-Residex has been further expanded to cover five more cities.
Residex, a property price index for consumers and borrowers, provides insights into the property market for the lending agencies in their credit evaluation and assessment of the value (present and potential) of the security against the loan. It also helps consumers to make an informed choice.
Builders and developers benefit from the index by assessing the demand scenario in a locality, and mapping the housing needs in different parts of the country
bindu.menon@thehindu.co.in