Unsold affordable housing stock declines 21% in 2 yrs, ultra-luxury by 5%: Anarock

High demand for affordable houses and shrinking supply have led to a sharp 21% decline in the segment’s unsold inventory in the last two years. According to Anarock, of the total unsold stock across top seven cities, affordable housing inventory saw the most significant drop.

Chennai, Pune and MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region) saw the highest fall in their unsold affordable housing stock over the last two years, with 52%, 33%, and 27% reductions, respectively. These declines directly correlate to the intentional restriction of new budget housing supply.

Meanwhile, the unsold stock of ultra-luxury homes, priced over Rs 2.5 crore, witnessed a 5% decline in the same period – from around 41,750 units at the end of March 2020 to about 39,810 units by the end of March 2022. MMR and Kolkata saw maximum reductions in unsold ultra-luxury inventories, shedding 16% and 15%, respectively.

Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock Group, said, “Affordable housing took the biggest hit from the pandemic, with the first perceivable change being its declining share of new supply. Data reveals that out of approximately 70,480 units launched in the top seven cities in January-March 2019, affordable housing had a 44% share. This segment’s supply share has been declining y-o-y, reducing to 38% in Q1 2020 and further to 30% in Q1 2021. In Q1 2022, its share of new supply had declined to 25%.”

Notably, the premium and luxury segments (Rs 80 lakh to Rs 2.5 crore) witnessed an increase in the total unsold stock in the same period.

As many as 6,27,780 units currently lie unsold across top seven cities. Of this,1,86,150 units are in the affordable segment alone.

Among the cities, Chennai saw the maximum decline in unsold affordable housing inventory with a 52% reduction — from 9,220 units by March 2020 to about 4,440 units by March 2022-end. Pune witnessed a 33% decline in affordable unsold stock — from 46,630 units in first quarter of 2020 to about 31,090 units by Q1 2022.

In MMR, unsold affordable housing stock declined by 27% from 69,210 units to 50,860 units during the same period. NCR saw its unsold affordable housing inventory decline by 13% to nearly 56,280 units from 64,430 units two years ago. In Bengaluru, such stock fell by 10%, while Hyderabad saw a 5% decline in its unsold affordable housing stock. In Kolkata, unsold affordable stock remained unchanged.