PRICE STAGNATION IN REALTY

Property prices in Mumbai and Delhi NCR, among India's top realty markets, marginally rose in the third quarter of 2013 mainly due to lack of new launches and cautious sentiment in the sector, a survey said. Mumbai's property rates grew 3 per cent in Q3 2013 compared to the April-June period. On the other hand prices in Delhi NCR remained largely stagnant at the Q2 2013 levels, according to a survey by property portal 99acres. However, on year-on-year basis, Mumbai and Delhi NCR saw an improvement of 13 per cent and 8 per respectively, compared to Q3 2012 rates, it said. "Mumbai continues to remain a slow market. Due to the perennial issues like lack of new launches and no price correction on the horizon, the market sentiment remains bleak. "The NCR market is facing a decline due to interplay of multiple factors like cautious financial market sentiments and steep decline in fresh inventories," 99acres.com Business Head Vineet Singh said. The situation can only be ameliorated if there is a wave of new projects at attractive rates which will excite the buyers to move from their current wait and watch policy, he said. "No new projects were launched in Noida and Gurgaon (both in NCR). In fact, they were impacted by slower deliveries from the previous quarters which have exacerbated the overall scenario. All this has cumulatively led to a non-steady pricing of existing projects in the region." The survey, which analysed property trends in seven top metros - NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata - pointed out there was no change in capital appreciation in the southern region markets. "The southern region, comprising Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, is following into the footsteps of north with quarter on quarter analysis depicting no change in the capital appreciation while Y-o-Y analysis showing an upward growth of 5 per cent," it said. Kolkata, on the other hand, witnessed an increase of 4 per cent, the highest amongst all the seven cities. On Y-o-Y, the West Bengal capital witnessed a growth of 11 per cent. On an average, rents across these seven cities remained more or less stagnant during the quarter as against Q2 this year, the survey found.