Luxury home sales double amid pandemic

Indians are splurging on luxury homes as real estate developers step up supply and offer discounts to boost sales amid the pandemic.

Of around 1.84 lakh units sold in the country’s top seven cities in H1 2022, about 14% (about 25,700 units) were in luxury homes, according to data released by property consultant Anarock Research. In comparison, of 2.61 lakh units sold in the whole of 2019, just 7% were in the luxury category.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Delhi-NCR have led luxury homes sales with H1 2022 seeing around 17,830 units sold in these two cities alone. In 2019, they accounted for a mere 11,890 luxury homes sold in the entire year.

In terms of overall sales share, MMR’s luxury housing sales share increased from 13% in 2019 to 25% in H1 2022. In Delhi NCR, the sales share rose to 12% in H1 2022, from 4% in 2019.

"These sales figures are even more remarkable if we consider that it is mainly end-users who are driving luxury housing sales across these cities today. There is a clear takeaway on overall economic performance. Even though the typical buyers in this budget segment were not as impacted by the pandemic as the rest, HNIs are conscious of cost. Discounts by developers made luxury properties very attractive for these buyers and NRIs have also been snapping up luxury homes in India because of the favourable exchange rate,” says Anuj Puri, chairman of ANAROCK Group.

Encouraged by this healthy demand for luxury offerings, developers have stepped up new supply in the luxury segment, launching over 28,000 units priced over ₹1.5 crore across the top seven cities in just the first half of 2022. Around 28,960 luxury homes were launched in the entire 2019.

Encouraged by this healthy demand for luxury offerings, developers have stepped up new supply in the luxury segment, launching over 28,000 units priced less than ₹1.5 crore across the top seven cities in just the first half of 2022. Around 28,960 luxury homes were launched in the entire 2019.

The affordable housing segment (units priced less than ₹40 lakh) saw its sales share dip from 38% in 2019 to 31% in H1 2022. Of 1.84 lakh homes sold in H1 2022, approximately 57,040 units were in this budget category. Post-pandemic, affordable housing was significantly impacted because its target audience took the biggest economic hit. In terms of cities, Hyderabad saw the maximum dip in affordable housing sales share - from 23% in 2019 to 6% in H1 2022, followed by Chennai - from 52% in 2019 to 36% in H1 2022.

ANAROCK data shows that the top seven cities currently have around 97,140 luxury and ultra-luxury homes for sale. MMR has the maximum share of 46%, with about 44,710 luxury homes currently available for sale. Delhi-NCR comes second with around 19,470 luxury units currently available for sale. In H1 2022, approximately 4,160 units were sold in this segment.