Luxury home sales zoom in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: For reasons obvious to real estate trend watchers, rates of property in most key markets have not shown significant improvement in the past three years. Hyderabad alone has remained an exception to that rule. According to Realty Decoded, a quarterly analysis of nine key property markets of India conducted by PropTiger DataLabs, property prices in the City of Nizams increased 22 per cent in the past three years. A year-on-year comparison shows rates have increased 11 per cent in the second quarter of the financial year 2018-19 when compared to the same quarter the previous year.

Rising prices, however, is not the only aspect where Hyderabad is defying the usual trend. Buyers might be looking for small-sized-affordable properties in other markets, but that is not the case with Hyderabad. Units priced above Rs 1 crore contributed the most to new launch and home sales numbers during the second quarter. New launches grew 159 per cent annually in the September quarter owing to a low base. A sequential comparison, on the other hand, shows a decline of 34 per cent in new units launched. Thirty-two per cent of the total new launches of Q2 FY’19 were priced over Rs 1 crore. In the past three years, the share of properties rated over Rs 1 crore has been consistently rising. Fifty-nine per cent of all the launches were concentrated in the western localities of the city such as Gachibowli, Manikonda, Bachupally and Miyapur.

An annual comparison also shows a 49 per cent increase in sales numbers during Q2, where units priced above Rs 1 crore contributed significantly with a 23 per cent share. The highest contribution of 31 percent to sales numbers was, however, made by units priced Rs 50-75 lakh. In terms of sales numbers, too, the western localities made the biggest contribution, by making 55 per cent share to the overall sales numbers. During the quarter, Hyderabad also showed the lowest inventory overhang—it would take only 22 months for real estate developers in Hyderabad to sell off the existing housing stock (38,119 units) in the city, the lowest for any city, at the current sales velocity. Comparatively, it would take 47 months for developers in Ahmedabad to achieve that feat. In terms of inventory, too, Hyderabad west is the biggest contributor ─ 56 per cent of the city’s total inventory stock is in localities lying in the west. Data show nearly 74,000 units are expected to be delivered by 2020.