Strong rebound in Q4 2020

• JLL’s India Residential Market Update shows sales rising to about 21,800 units in Q4 2020, a 51% sequential jump over roughly 14,400 units sold in Q3 2020 across the top seven cities.​
• The upturn followed a 34% quarter-on-quarter improvement already seen in Q3 2020, signalling that the post-lockdown revival had gathered decisive momentum by the December quarter.​

Seven key cities share the momentum

• The seven cities covered in the JLL analysis are Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata, all of which saw higher residential sales in Q4 2020 versus the previous quarter.​
• Mumbai remained the largest contributor with around 23% of Q4 sales, while Delhi NCR accounted for about 20%, underlining the continued dominance of these two north-western markets in overall volumes.​

Factors driving the revival

• Historically low home loan interest rates, stable residential prices and a slew of festive-season offers, discounts and flexible payment plans from developers were key drivers of demand.​
• JLL notes that buyers focused on ready-to-move and near-completion projects by established developers, reflecting a preference for lower completion risk in an uncertain economic environment.​

New launches and inventory trend

• New launches more than doubled quarter-on-quarter, rising 112% to about 26,800 units in Q4 2020 compared to around 12,700 units in Q3, led by a strong pipeline in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.​
• Despite the surge in launches, unsold inventory across the seven markets inched up only marginally from about 4.57 lakh to 4.62 lakh units, indicating that improved sales were absorbing a significant share of new supply.​

City highlights and outlook

• Southern metros such as Hyderabad and Bengaluru dominated new launches, together accounting for over half of the fresh supply in Q4 2020, while Pune recorded the sharpest sequential jump in sales at about 147%.​
• JLL observes that although 2020’s annual sales were still around 52% lower than 2019, the strong Q4 performance set the stage for a more sustained recovery in 2021 as confidence, site visits and enquiries continued to improve.​

  Residential sales surge, Residential sales surge q4 2020