Real estate services company ANAROCK in a report revealed that over 40 per cent of approximately 4.77 lakh homes sold in 2023 were newly launched unconstructed projects. This marks a huge rise from pre-pandemic levels in 2019 when only 26 per cent of sales were newly launched projects. In 2019 total sales were 2.61 lakh homes. A growing preference among homebuyers for properties that have not yet begun construction is because of the ever-increasing dominance of branded developers, ANAROCK report said. The "new-launch" properties typically mean proposed projects offered to buyers and investors at discounted rates after obtaining necessary approvals from relevant authorities but are yet to commence construction.
Over the years, the percentage of new launches that are getting sold has been steadily rising, the ANAROCK report shows. In 2020, 28 per cent of approximately 1.38 lakh units sold in the top 7 cities were new launches. This figure increased to 34 per cent in 2021 and to 36 per cent in 2022.
Anuj Puri, Chairman - ANAROCK Group, said, “The fact that 40 per cent of newly launched housing stock has already been sold across the top cities strongly underscores increasing homebuyer confidence in new projects. Ready homes became the biggest draw amid project delays in the past, but the trend is now changing. This is attributable to the increasing market share of financially strong branded developers with sound completion track records in the last 2-3 years.”
The report claims that a recent surge in land acquisitions by leading developers will prevent past mistakes and help them launch projects in alignment with market demand.
“Also, in contrast to earlier years, developers are launching projects that dovetail with actual demand, their focus on good locations and appropriate unit sizes and configurations is very obvious," said Puri.
Among the top 7 cities, Chennai saw a staggering 58 per cent of total sales from new launches and NCR saw the lowest sales of newly launched homes at 27 per cent of total sales.
Gurugram outperformed other markets in the NCR region - of 36,970 units sold in Millennium City in 2023, at least 35 per cent were newly launched, the ANAROCK report said. A residual hesitancy towards under-construction homes in the NCR region is a reminder of its years of oversupply and speculative pricing, it reasoned.
Overall, southern cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai saw the highest sales share of new launches. Chennai saw the highest per cent of newly launched projects in the total units sold. Out of 21,360 units sold during the year, a whopping 58 per cent were new launches.
Other cities with a low fresh supply absorption share include Kolkata and MMR at 30 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively. In MMR, of 1,53,870 units sold in 2023 approximately 36 per cent were new launches
