Residential sales up 5% to 87,108 units in Q3; office leasing highest since 2018

The residential sector saw another solid quarter across the top eight markets as home sales grew the highest in the year so far at 5% YoY to 87,108 units in Q3 2024, according to the latest Knight Frank India report for the July-September 2024 quarter. The total residential sales at 2,60,349 units in this period were 9% higher than 9M CY2023, says the ‘India Real Estate: Office and Residential Market.

Mumbai led with sales of 24,222 units, the best-recorded quarterly sales volume since 2018. Home sales in the ticket size category of ₹1 crore and above continued to witness an uptrend. “Consistent with the upward trend seen in the past 13 quarters, the high-end segment – ticket size ₹1 crore +, has grown significantly to 46% of all sales in Q3 2024 as compared to 35% a year ago.”

However, the share of sales in the mid-size segment has moderated. The affordable segment continues to witness a downtrend. “Units priced between ₹50 lakh-1 crore category accounted for 30% share of total sales with 26,011 units sold, followed by units under ₹50 lakh, with 24% market share and sales of 20,769 units in Q3 2024.”

New launches were recorded at 90,479 units, up 6% YoY growth in Q3 2024. Residential prices grew the most in Bengaluru at 10% YoY, the data shows.

Knight Frank India chairman and MD Shishir Baijal says the ₹1 crore and above segment continues to fire on all cylinders. “NCR was the only residential market to see a decline (7%) in this quarter and yet for the past 13 quarters, high-end properties in the NCR region (INR 10+ mn) have consistently surged, accounting for 46% of all sales in Q3 2024, up from a year ago. Given the steady economic outlook and the likelihood of rate cuts, demand has enough tailwinds to sustain current momentum as the market approaches the end of the year.”

Office transactions scale record high

The office space transactions reached 19 million square feet (mn sq ft) in Q3 2024, the highest quarterly absorption since Q1 2018, the Knight Frank data says. It marks an 18% year-on-year (YoY) increase from 16.1 mn sq ft in Q3 2023. In year-to-date terms, 2024 has already registered 27% year-on-year growth in the leasing of 53.7 mn sq ft. Global Capability Centers (GCCs) accounted for 7.1 mn sq ft or 37% of the transacted volume during Q3 2024, while India-facing businesses took up 6.6 mn sq ft or 35% of the transacted volumes.

Baijal says India-facing businesses and GCCs have continued to expand operations, remaining the primary drivers of increased volumes. "We expect this trend to continue for the rest of the year, with the possibility of office leasing numbers crossing 70 million sq ft by the end of 2024.”

The Bengaluru office market, which recorded the highest volume of transactions for Q3 2024 at 5.3 mn sq ft, constituted 28% of the total office transactions across the top eight cities.