HOUSE SALES PICKS UP IN DELHI NCR

Housing demand has picked up in the national capital region (NCR) with sales rising by 46 per cent in January this year to nearly 9,000 units mainly on the back of clarity in land acquisition issues in Greater Noida, property research firm PropEquity said. Housing sales in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), however, dropped by 14 per cent, according to PropEquity that tracks over 45,000 projects of 8,200 developers in over 40 cities. The total absorption in NCR stood at 8,812 units in January 2013, a 46 per cent increase from last year's January figure of 6,032 housing units. "This revival in NCR is caused by higher sales velocity in Greater Noida, Yamuna Expressway, Noida Extension and Faridabad. "The clearing up of the land acquisition issues lumbering upon the area along with the highly affordable units available in Yamuna Expressway and Noida Extension have resulted in the sale of 3,998 units in January 2013," PropEquity Founder and Chief Executive Officer Samir Jasuja said in a statement. Last year sales numbers for the month of January for Greater Noida, Yamuna Expressway, and Noida Extension stood at 694 units, he added. However, Jasuja said Gurgaon is still not very upbeat and witnessed a 4 per cent drop in absorption numbers during the period under review. The new launches in NCR dropped by 35 per cent to 5,208 units from last year January’s 8,041 units. Jasuja said the developers in key cities of NCR and MMR have controlled new launches keeping in mind the liquidity crunch as well as the piled up unsold inventory (except Gurgaon). Lower sales during last year forced the market to align itself to buyer sentiment and developers have started launching projects at lucrative rates to boost sales, he added. "This low scale correction along with the latest 25 basis points repo rate cut by RBI will support the market. The market requires at least 75 basis further dip in repo rates to strengthen sales," Jasuja said. In Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), PropEquity said that the total absorption during January stood at 5,130 units, a drop of 14 per cent from 5,983 units in January 2012. The new launches declined by 48 per cent in MMR during January 2013 to evade any significant demand supply mismatch.